SAN DIEGO -- David Westerfield was sentenced Friday to die by lethal injection for the kidnapping and murder of his 7-year-old neighbor, Danielle van Dam.

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

Westerfield, 50, declined to say anything before the sentence was handed down by Superior Court Judge William Mudd, who earlier rejected a defense request to set aside a jury recommendation for the death sentence.

VAN DAM TIMELINE Feb. 1: Danielle last seen when her father puts her to bed about 10 p.m. in her family's San Diego home. Feb. 2-3: Neighbor David Westerfield, 50, spends weekend traveling around San Diego County in his motor home. Feb. 5-6: Police search Westerfield's home and impound motor home. Search turns up child pornography. Feb. 22: Police arrest Westerfield after Danielle's blood is found on his clothing and in motor home. He later pleads not guilty to murder, kidnapping and possession of child pornography. Feb. 27: Volunteers discover Danielle's nude body 25 miles outside city. June 4: Trial begins. Aug. 8: Jury begins deliberations. Aug. 21: Westerfield convicted of all three charges. He faces life in prison or a death sentence after penalty phase that begins Aug. 28. Sept. 16: Jury recommends the death penalty. Jan. 3: Judge sentences Westerfield to death.

Brenda van Dam, the mother of Danielle, spoke out angrily before the sentencing, calling on Westerfield to apologize for his actions.

"Our precious Danielle was taken by a monster, thinking only of self-gratification and not thinking about the sweet little child he was harming and about how his crime would affect her family, the community and the world," van Dam told Westerfield as she fought back tears.

"It disgusts me that your sick fantasies and pitiful needs made you think that you needed Danielle more than her family."

"I ask you .... why did you not let her go?" she said. "Why didn't you drop her off in a safe place? If you had done so, she would be with her family now and you would not be facing death."

"What were you thinking as you killed her? Did she not touch your heart one bit? If not, you are heartless. You are an empty shell. You are nothing. "

"If she did, reclaim some decency and apologize to her brothers, her parents and your own children and this community. This should not be happening to our children. Our children should be able to be innocent children, and safe in our community and our world. You do not deserve any leniency, any mercy, because you refused to give it to Danielle."

Danielle's father, Damon van Dam, said he regretted that he will never see his daughter grow up.

"I'll never get to see her be a doctor or a teacher. I'll miss seeing her going to the prom. I'll miss her graduation. I'll miss seeing her go off to college and seeing what she will become," he said. "We know we have a whole lot of hearts that will never heal."

Lead prosecutor Jeff Dusek said Westerfield should get no credit for having demanded a speedy trial for Danielle's murder last February.

"He was not trying to save the community, the system, or anybody any anguish," Dusek said. "He was trying to beat a murder charge. That's why he rushed to trial.

"There are many things that we will never know in this case. Why that child? Why that night? How did he really do it? When did he do it? But we will know one thing for certain, that he did it. And he deserves the death penalty."

Mudd ordered that Westerfield be transported to San Quentin State Prison to await imposition of his death sentence. The sentence will be automatically appealed to the California Supreme Court, meaning it could be years before he is executed.

Westerfield was found guilty Aug. 21 of murder, a special circumstance allegation of murder during a kidnapping, and possession of child pornography. A few weeks later, the same jury that convicted the self-employed design engineer recommended he be put to death.

In court documents filed prior to Friday morning's hearing, 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 during the trial 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 stated 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, an argument that defense attorney Steven Feldman reasserted in court.

Dusek said in response to the defense motion that no detective had it in for Westerfield -- as his attorneys claimed -- and that the finding of a special circumstance of murder during a kidnapping was warranted.

"Frankly, any other decision would have been unexplainable," Dusek wrote. "The jury's decision was right and appropriate. It must not be reduced."

Mudd concurred, noting that testimony arising from questionable police action was kept out of the trial.