SAN DIEGO -- Blow flies infested the body of Danielle van Dam no earlier than Feb. 12, long after police began tight surveillance of David Westerfield, a defense insect expert testified Thursday.

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Robert Hall, interim vice provost for research at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said mummification of the 7-year-old victim's body would have had "little, if any, effect on the flies."

Entomologists have testified that such infestation of a body usually occurs within minutes to hours of being exposed to the elements.

The defense contends Westerfield could not have placed the Sabre Springs second-grader's body under a tree in the East County because, by then, he was being so closely watched by police and the media.

The victim's body was infested by the blow flies "no later than Feb. 23, 2002 and no earlier than February the 12th, 2002," Hall said.

Van Dam was discovered missing on the morning of Feb. 2. Westerfield came under police suspicion Feb. 4, with tight surveillance beginning the next day. The defendant was arrested Feb. 22, and the girl's body was discovered near the Singing Hills Country Club five days later.

Westerfield, 50, is charged with murder, kidnapping and special circumstance allegations that could lead to the death penalty if he's convicted of killing van Dam.

He is also charged with misdemeanor possession of child pornography.

As a defense rebuttal witness, Hall cast doubt on a pair of experts produced by the prosecution.

Hall (pictured, right) said the conclusion by Dr. William Rodriguez, a forensic anthropologist with the Department of Defense, was "inconsistent with the evidence I examined."

Rodriguez testified last week that van Dam was dead for four to six weeks.

Hall said calculations by Chaminade University entomologist M. Lee Goff (pictured, left) introduced Tuesday were simply incorrect.

The witness conceded that there were variables to conclusions made by entomologists, including a body being "in the trunk of a car for some period of time."

The prosecution has suggested that van Dam's body was in the storage compartment of Westerfield's motor home for a period of time.

Defense attorney Steven Feldman asked Hall to assume a body was killed, then carried around in such a storage compartment before being dumped Feb. 4.

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"I would expect fly activity to occur as soon as an opportunity presented itself," Hall said about such a circumstance.

At any rate, he would not expect a five-to-seven day delay of infestation.

The defendant's lead attorney, Steven Feldman, told Superior Court Judge William Mudd on Tuesday that he may call a witness on Monday.

If that schedule stays intact, closing arguments could begin Tuesday in the trial, which has lasted nearly two months.

Mudd told jurors that he didn't want them sequestered during deliberations, but that sequestration remains a possibility.