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Prosecution spent $270,000 on Westerfield case
San Diego Union Tribune ^ | 2/6/03 | San Diego Union Tribune

Posted on 02/06/2003 3:57:00 PM PST by Jaded

SAN DIEGO – The District Attorney's Office spent nearly $270,000 prosecuting David Westerfield, including thousands for DNA analysis and expert witnesses, it was announced today.

Westerfield was sentenced to die for the February 2002 killing of 7-year- old Danielle van Dam.

The former Sabre Springs resident and neighbor of the victim is now on death row at San Quentin.

According to figures the District Attorney's Office released, more than $35,000 was spent on experts for Westerfield's trial, and more than $146,000 on DNA analysis.

More than $62,000 was spent on a telephone survey and a jury questionnaire review.


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: 180frank; addictedlosers; addiction; dozeoff; dusek; plantedevidence; vandam; westerfield
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To: All
the only LE personell that "lost" out of this case is Pfingst...he was not reelected, and Ott.

Keyser promoted to "Internal Affairs"...even though he had been "reprimanded" for beating a drug suspect...and lying in an affidavat regarding a witness identifying a suspect.

George "Woody" Clarke is now a judge.

Dusek now works "cold cases" at his leisure.

Damon lays by his new pool and drives his BMW.

1,221 posted on 10/13/2003 9:05:24 PM PDT by demsux
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To: Jaded
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/2674907/detail.html?treets=dgo&tml=dgo_8pm&t

Judge Mudd strikes again.

No media coverage involved in this particular case.

1,222 posted on 12/02/2003 9:15:32 PM PST by demsux
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To: demsux
Like that's a surprise. It's the second time Mudd has done something similar.
1,223 posted on 12/03/2003 6:46:04 AM PST by Jaded (Personally, I think they should bring back flogging and burning at the stake.)
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To: demsux
Your linked article:

Judge Sets Child Molester Free

SAN DIEGO -- On Monday, a piano teacher who admitted molesting a student was set free by a well-known San Diego judge.

Prosecutors said that Jose Emilio Gonzales molested three young girls during their lessons.

As part of his plea agreement, Gonzales admitted to molesting one of the students and attempting to molest the other two.

The mother of one victim asked that he be given the maximum sentence.

"I don't know how you could do that," the woman said in court. "She was only 9 years old. My little girl went through hell because of you. We all did."

Judge William Mudd gave Gonzalez an eight-year sentence but then suspended it, citing reasons that included the defendant's lack of previous criminal history, community support and the fact he had already spent two years in jail. Gonzalez was also placed on probation for five years.

Okay, now if the moms were swingers or had hired a Public Relations firm would Senior Gonzales still be in jail?

Or maybe if his name was Mister Smith, would Judge Mudd have found that the "community" supported his continued incarceration?

1,224 posted on 12/03/2003 11:03:32 AM PST by bvw
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To: CW_Conservative
That a Jury bought that blue-ribbon whinning fact-free summation speaks to the hardened concrete set of the prejudices which with they entered the courtroom at the start of the trial.
1,225 posted on 12/03/2003 11:06:45 AM PST by bvw
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To: bvw
How goes it BVW...long time no "talk"
1,226 posted on 12/03/2003 3:52:35 PM PST by demsux
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To: demsux
Preparing for the storm, On the Westerfield case, may G-d help him, and open the eyes of that Jury.

We need less laws, less due process to complex to apply fairly, and more individual Standing Up. That Jury was a bunch of TV watching sitters.

Damn the false gods of the nanny state, pensions and insurance.

1,227 posted on 12/03/2003 4:04:00 PM PST by bvw
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To: bvw
"too complex"
That trial process in California was too complex, and truth did not will out. Juries should be fully informed not arbitrarily and fiercely filtered.
1,228 posted on 12/03/2003 6:00:58 PM PST by bvw
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To: bvw
I still think Ott/Keyser (or one of the techs on both scenes, planted the "evidence".

Bummer is, it's not provable and if multiple persons were involved, they're all complicit and will never come forward.

I figure BVD and DVD will split and one will implicate the other or a third party and/or one of the boys will come forward at some point in the future.

1,229 posted on 12/03/2003 6:06:24 PM PST by demsux
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To: demsux
ah, Westerfield.....

I can't see the techs planting evidence....

what I understand is that the "blood" in the motor home was matched up to a certain number of markers for Danielle's blood....but not totally conclusive....I may be all wrong on that...

only thing that still bugs me about that so called trial is the police interrogation methods and why they did that....I can't see how any of that was admissiable in court ..

I don't understand why the jury wasn't sequestered..

I don't understand why the trial wasn't moved..

I don't understand why we never learned what cops or politicos, if any, were swingers that wanted to protect their "good" names...

When I think of the vitriol that went on in that trial, the total media acquiescience to the prosecutions' case, I really wonder why, why the trial was so quick, why the defendent's rights were ignored, why the judge allowed that to happen, and why were there dna samples, fingerprints samples, and fiber threads never identified in the house and under the body....why?....

Why could they never place Westerfield in that house?....with all the time and money spent and all the modern technologies, they couldn't find a fiber, a hair, a fingerprint.....they never did explain how he did it...

1,230 posted on 12/04/2003 3:03:45 AM PST by cherry
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To: Jaded
Child porn hearing set

By: North County Times wire services

SAN DIEGO - Arguments will be heard Dec. 23 on whether two San Diego County men should stand trial on charges they participated in an international child pornography ring, a judge said today.

Brooke Rowland, 42, and Paul Whitmore, 45, are charged with 70 counts of child abuse and child pornography involving the alleged molestation of 11 children.

Sheriff's Detective Stephanie Guerra testified during a five-day preliminary hearing that Rowland was nude and touching the private parts of three naked girls in a photo seized from Whitmore's home.

Superior Court Judge Bernard Revak ordered most of the preliminary hearing closed to the public to protect the identities of the minors.

"Operation Hamlet" focused on individuals who allegedly distributed pictures on the Internet of themselves molesting children, authorities said.

Guerra said a photo found in Whitmore's San Diego home shows Rowland "frolicking" in a bedroom, molesting the girls.

The detective testified that Rowland wasn't a suspect in the porn ring until the photograph was discovered.

A 10-year-old girl testified that Rowland molested her during two sleepovers at his apartment.

"He said, `I'll give you two dollars if you don't tell anybody,"' the girl testified.

The girl said she started to spend a third night with her friend and Rowland, but left "because I thought he was going to do it again."

She said she eventually told her mother what had happened.

Rowland, a former ad salesman, and Whitmore, a former counselor at a school for autistic children, are among 14 men facing trial next year in Fresno on federal child porn charges.

Remember Rowland, lived walking distance from the bar where Brenda was trolling for sex partners.

1,231 posted on 12/16/2003 5:11:01 PM PST by demsux
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To: cherry
The only places "evidence" was found were places that Keyser and Ott were. Hmmmm. Why was it that the "blood" was found on a jacket that had already been drycleaned. The DNA was pristine, but the DNA belonging to the convicted was severly degraded?
1,232 posted on 12/16/2003 9:16:38 PM PST by Jaded (Personally, I think they should bring back flogging and burning at the stake.)
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To: Jaded; UCANSEE2; BARLF; Rheo; demsux; CW_Conservative
Happy New Year!! Well! Well! Well! It may be the big leaker to the press during the Westerfield investigation was none other than Mr. Pfingst; including the shoddy lifestyle of the Van Dams leaked to Rick Roberts and the tale of the plea bargain supplied to J. Harry Jones of the Union-Tribune in exchange for favorable press during the primary election. I've been reading this on another thread. Seems an anonymous letter with this info was sent to Judge Mudd and he included it in the public record. You can check it out at Sign On San Diego. Sorry, don't know how (or if it's acceptable) to post it here.

Guess it doesn't change anything but it's interesting. Hope everyone is well....

1,233 posted on 01/04/2004 8:41:36 PM PST by I. Ben Hurt
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To: I. Ben Hurt
Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffinkst.............

Even sounds like the leaker!

BTW, I read the letter and it is very interesting.

No'Reilly (O'Reilly Factor) ought to have Pfffffffffffffffinst back on and ask him about the leaks...hell he even leaked after the fact on No'Reilly's show.

1,234 posted on 01/04/2004 9:32:09 PM PST by demsux
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To: I. Ben Hurt
Tell It To Da Judge Thread
1,235 posted on 01/05/2004 7:19:55 AM PST by Jaded (Personally, I think they should bring back flogging and burning at the stake. /so)
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To: I. Ben Hurt; MizSterious
Happy New Year to you.

My thoughts back in June,2003.FWIW

I would be interested in knowing the truth about this leak. The vD's seemed to use clintonspeak to their advantage. Leak the lifestyle to the media and then accuse Feldman of using it against them. They become victims instead of bad parents.

Another thought, swinging lifestyle red herring. Whats behind the curtain? No one looked there.

537 posted on 06/23/2003 8:30:14 PM CDT by BARLF

It depends on who leaked the story. It worked very well for the vD's. Was this the intended purpose? Perhaps.

539 posted on 06/23/2003 8:48:34 PM CDT by BARLF

1,236 posted on 01/05/2004 9:54:36 AM PST by BARLF
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To: bvw
Juries should be fully informed not arbitrarily and fiercely filtered.

This jury was fully informed.

They were informed by the media.

They were informed by the lies spread to the media by the Prosecuting Attorney General.

They were informed by the lies the sheriff told the media, concerning evidence that hadn't even been tested yet.

They were informed by the judge that, after hearing all the evidence, they were fully free to find DW guilty.

They were informed by the judge that they should view each piece of evidence separately, and not view the evidence items as a whole (as that would show conflicts).
If they could find one thing to believe in as proof he was guilty, they could ignore everything else, including anything that proved DW could not be guilty. If they could find one thing to believe in as proof of guilt, then they should just assume the other items were true as well.

They were informed that if the defense couldn't prove his innocence, then he was obviously guilty.

They were informed that if DW didn't testify in his own defense, then he was guilty.

They were informed that if DW laughed in court, he was guilty. They were informed that if DW didn't laugh in court, he was guilty.

I don't see this as a case of a un-informed jury. I see it more as a case of leading a horse down a selected path, to make sure he finds the waterhole you are leading him to

If you want to see miscarriage of justice, then watch any trial where the media is overly involved.

1,237 posted on 01/05/2004 12:26:41 PM PST by UCANSEE2 ("Duty is ours, Results are God's" --John Quincy Adams)
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To: Jaded
Yep. Woody helped the prosecution distort the evidence enough to convict DW. He is an expert, and would normally reject the mitDNA used as it was in the DW case. He knows it has not been used as proof in court, in the way it was being used in the DW case. He knew that Dusek was lying when making statements about proof of "quadrillion to one" that this was Danielle's DNA on DW's jacket.

Clarke was used by Dusek , not to support the TRUTH, but to ensure the TRUTH was hidden. He was used because the prosecutor knew they really had no case, but had to win. Because they knew the evidence, once reviewed by a jury, would be rejected.

SO THEY HAD TO LIE AND COVER AND CONFUSE.

Feldman was gagged, ignored, hands tied, etc. I also believe he was a stroke of luck for the Prosecution as well.

The police suggested Feldman to DW, since DW didn't seem to have the brains to know when to call a lawyer, and who to call.

They knew Feldman well, and knew what his tactics would be. They made sure they had a jury immune to Feldman's best weapon (bug defense). They assumed he would circle the wagons around that one point, and didn't have time to pursue any other options.

IMHO, had DW not asked for speedy trial, he likely would have not been convicted.

He received his reward.

1,238 posted on 01/05/2004 12:38:11 PM PST by UCANSEE2 ("Duty is ours, Results are God's" --John Quincy Adams)
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To: demsux; Jaded
Gee. It wouldn't surprise me, seeing the actions of MUDD on that particular case, and his behavior at the DW trial, that the person being 'protected' is MUDD.
1,239 posted on 01/05/2004 12:40:08 PM PST by UCANSEE2 ("Duty is ours, Results are God's" --John Quincy Adams)
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To: Jaded; BARLF; demsux
I noticed a program on TV the other night (NIGHTLINE?) that was discussing the concern about DNA testing and convictions.

DNA tests which provided convictions were retested by independent labs, and around 75% were contrary to the original tests.

Last year, they found that FBI and LE type labs were giving POSITIVES on DNA / suspected drugs testing, regardless to whether they tested positive or negative.

1,240 posted on 01/05/2004 12:45:57 PM PST by UCANSEE2 ("Duty is ours, Results are God's" --John Quincy Adams)
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