Posted on 07/31/2002 9:20:15 PM PDT by FresnoDA
Agree about the closing arguments. But oh, I am hoping Feldman goes last.
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Tamera Brooks, 16, and Jaqueline Marris, 17, were sitting in separate cars with two male friends when they were approached by a man shortly after 1 a.m. The man forced Brooks out of her vehicle at gunpoint, then approached Marris, who was in a 1980 Ford Bronco, authorities said.
The man, described in his mid-30s to early 40s, tied up one of the friends and sped away in the white Ford Bronco with a blue-grey camper shell with both girls inside, said a spokesman for the Los Angeles County sheriff's department. The Bronco has California licence plate number 1AIZ962. The truck has raised large raised tires and a D&D Muffler sticker in the rear window.
Brooks is described as a 5'4" black female weighing approximately 125 pounds with black hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing a red shirt with a butterfly on the sleeve, dark shorts and tan sandals. Marris is described as a white female with dyed jet black hair. She is approximately 5'4" tall, weighs 120 pounds and was last seen wearing a black shirt and dark pants.
"He told me he was going to kill me but he didn't want to," an 18-year-old man told NBC4. The teen, who had duct tape on his arms and legs, said he was blindfolded and tied to a post while the kidnapper took away his female friend. "He just kept telling her to stay down, keep her head down, don't look at him."
Efflandt said the man poured gasoline over one of the vehicles, apparently trying to torch it, but was unsuccessful.
Sheriff's investigators also said the man left behind a vehicle that was reported stolen in a carjacking in Nevada. No other details were immediately available.
The remote area where the kidnapping occurred is a place frequented by young people, Capt. Tom Pigott said.
A command post has been set up and sheriff's deputies notified the FBI and the Border Patrol.
"It's a life and death situation," Pigott said. "We're just trying to locate these young girls."
Authorities have asked the public to be extremely careful in this situation. Steve Jauch of the Los Angeles sheriff's deptartment said, "Obviously, the driver of this vehicle is considered armed and dangerous. You need to use caution. If you see this vehicle, stay away."
Jauch urged people who see the Bronco to call 911, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department at (323) 526-5541 or the Lancaster station at 661-966-8466.
Sheriff's deputies used the "Amber Alert" system, which uses radio and television bulletins to announce that a child may have been abducted. The plan is named for Amber Hagerman, a 9-year-old who in 1996 was kidnapped and later found dead in Arlington, Texas.
Lancaster is 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
And so..once again, she makes a case for sequestering the jury. No gag order for CTV's biased reporting, I guess.
JUDGE MUDD!!!!
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Does this just make the poor guys day, or what?
sw
HOT LEGS-Rod Stewart....
By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 21, 2002
A few weeks ago, a waitress at Dad's Cafe and Steakhouse in Poway noticed a middle-aged couple taking pictures in front of the restaurant, like tourists posing in front of Niagara Falls.
The couple said they were visiting from New York and had been following David Westerfield's murder trial on television. They wanted everyone back home to know they'd made a trip to the famous nightspot.
"People come here just to gawk," said Patrick Lipe, the co-owner of Dad's, as he sat in one of the bar's burgundy vinyl booths. "Our phone has rung so many times from people asking directions to this place."
Dad's is a magnet for strangers these days. They come from all parts of San Diego and beyond. On Friday night, the crowd included a woman from Maine who traveled across the country just to visit Dad's and several other locales that have become notorious in the case of Westerfield, 50, who is accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.
Some people walk in, look around and walk out. Not long ago, one guy prowled around the parking lot snapping photos of the restaurant from several angles, telling Lipe he was taking the pictures for posterity.
Some stay long enough to order a beer or a meal, and pepper the staff with questions about where Danielle's mother, Brenda, was dancing, and which barstool Westerfield was sitting on, and where Barbara and Denise were playing pool on the last night the second-grader was seen alive.
Lipe usually obliges by giving what he wearily describes as "the 5-cent tour." Here's the spot where van Dam and Westerfield may or may not have shared a dance. In the corner is where Barbara Easton stuck her hand down Yvette Wetli's blouse. In front is the smoking lounge where Duane the fisherman spotted Keith and Rich looking drunk and stoned on the night of Feb. 1.
Lipe, a burly man with graying red hair, says he's happy for the extra business but uneasy about the reasons for it. He understands that the restaurant is now linked in the public consciousness with a child's horrifying death.
He also worries that the Westerfield trial with its soap-opera-like testimony about marijuana smoking, wife-swapping, vodka-swilling and dirty dancing has created a misperception about the bar.
Lipe wants people to understand that Dad's is a family place, the kind of homey nightspot where the staff has been known to hand out fresh-baked cookies on Friday and Saturday nights. The restaurant sponsors two Little League teams.
Lipe has gone so far as to cancel the weekly swing-dance lessons to avoid subjecting the establishment to further ridicule.
"The publicity is a good thing," he said. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing. But that little girl is never coming back."
Feel free to ping me with any "relevant" testimony.
Apologies, people, I know it's rude..sorry..
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Neal testified to finding the cd's and disks himself hidden behind the books on the shelf right where police found them.
But there's no evidence showing that he was in the house that night. How can you convict if you can't place the dfendant at the scene of the crime?
As for the child porn, has it actually been proven that the photos were of underage children?
This WOULD be a clear indication. It certainly has not been shown and Feldman did not indicate it was the case. (and maybe it was viewed, downloaded and deleted off computer)
Viewing naked women
Some images may be of girls, not women. We'll have to hear from the jury on this as none of us can know from where we're sitting.
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