SAN DIEGO -- Convicted child killer David Westerfield should get life in prison without parole instead of a jury's recommendation of lethal injection, his attorneys argue in court papers filed Monday.

WESTERFIELD TRIAL Judge William Mudd Issues Death Penalty Sentence Hear Jury's Death Penalty Recommendation Watch The Jury's Verdict Being Read Share Your Thoughts DANIELLE VAN DAM 1994-2002 Watch Danielle Video Montage E-mail: daniellevandam @yahoo.com Send mail to: P.O. Box 501515 San Diego, 92150

They also asked Superior Court Judge William Mudd to strike a special circumstance of murder during a kidnapping.

They argue that those investigating the slaying of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam violated the defendant's "due process" rights guaranteed under the Fifth, Eighth and 14th amendments to the Constitution.

Westerfield, 50, was found guilty Nov. 22 of murder, the special circumstance allegation and possession of child pornography.

On Jan. 3, Mudd will either uphold the jury's recommendation or sentence Westerfield to life without parole.

By law, the judge is required to weigh the evidence and make an independent determination of whether the death penalty is the appropriate sentence, Westerfield's attorneys argue.

"If the trial judge decides the weight of the evidence does not support a death sentence, the court has the power, and indeed the obligation, to reduce the penalty to life imprisonment," they wrote. "The question before the court is squarely one of law and justice: Should this court order Mr. Westerfield's death?"

Westerfield's attorneys reminded Mudd that he found that San Diego police Detective Mo Parga lacked credibility when she testified in pretrial hearings that she didn't know she was violating the defendant's rights while he was detained by officers.

Mudd said on the record that he was troubled by the fact that Parga didn't know that a search warrant was being prepared for Westerfield's car, motor home, trailer, home and him, according to the defense documents.

The attorneys also state that two San Diego police detectives may have been ordered to violate Westerfield's rights when they tried to speak to him or show him photographs in jail the day after the Sabre Springs second-grader's body was discovered.

"Here, the state's misconduct was extreme, blatant, outrageous and undermined the integrity of the judicial process," the attorneys wrote.

"This misconduct was not simply the isolated action of a single rogue officer, but a concerted effort on the part of numerous police officers to violate this capital defendant's constitutional rights."