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Posted on 07/23/2002 7:40:29 AM PDT by FresnoDA
By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
July 23, 2002
A bug expert for the defense in the David Westerfield trial testified yesterday that Danielle van Dam's body couldn't have been exposed to flies any earlier than Feb. 12, a week after Westerfield was being watched by the police.
The testimony of Dr. Neal Haskell supports the defense's argument that Westerfield couldn't have dumped the 7-year-old girl's body because he was under 24-hour-a-day police surveillance from Feb. 4 until his arrest Feb. 22. The second-grader's nude body was discovered Feb. 27 off Dehesa Road east of El Cajon. She disappeared the first weekend in February.
Haskell, a forensic entomologist and professor at Saint Joseph's College in Indiana, is the second insect expert called by the defense. Unlike the first, Haskell was much more definitive in his opinion that flies didn't colonize on the girl's body until at least a week after Westerfield was under police surveillance.
Basing his opinions on the life cycle of blow flies, Haskell said the insects likely entered the girl's body between Feb. 14 and Feb. 21, and couldn't have entered the body any earlier than Feb. 12. In general, flies can enter the body and lay eggs within hours or minutes of the body's exposure to the elements, unless all the openings on the body are covered, he said.
At most, it might take flies "a day or two" to enter an uncovered body and lay eggs, depending on temperature and other factors, he said.
Danielle's nude body was not covered by any material when it was found.
"In my opinion, the body would not have been there" any earlier than Feb. 12, Haskell testified.
Westerfield, a 50-year-old design engineer who lived two doors away from the van Dams in Sabre Springs, could face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping and killing the girl.
Lead defense lawyer Steven Feldman told jurors at the beginning of the trial that science would prove Westerfield could not have killed the girl.
The prosecution, which has centered its case on DNA evidence linking Danielle's blood, hair, fibers and fingerprints to Westerfield's clothing, residence, sport utility vehicle and motor home, could present its own bug expert in rebuttal after the defense concludes, possibly this week.
Haskell stuck to his opinion despite an aggressive cross-examination by prosecutor Jeff Dusek. At one point the two men engaged in such a heated exchange that Superior Court Judge William Mudd announced the afternoon break about a minute ahead of schedule.
In an apparent attempt to demonstrate that Haskell is a hired gun, Dusek raised the issue of how much Haskell is being paid by the defense.
Haskell said he charges $350 per hour for his testimony and $250 per hour for his other work on the case. He said he couldn't estimate how much his final bill will be.
Among other things, Dusek suggested that Haskell used incorrect weather data and failed to consider the possibility that the girl had been dead for a day or two before her body was dumped.
On July 10, San Diego entomologist David Faulkner said Danielle's body could have been exposed to the elements between Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, based on the age of the flies on her body. He left some leeway on cross-examination, saying the body could have been there longer.
Haskell was on the stand for most of the day yesterday, which was the first day of testimony after a week break. The judge took a planned vacation cruise last week.
One of the first things Mudd did on his return was remind the jurors not to be influenced by any "other matters in other locales." It was a reference to the July 15 abduction and killing of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion in Orange County. A 27-year-old Riverside County man has been charged in that case.
"It is a matter that bears no relationship to this case in terms of the facts or anything else," the judge told the 12 jurors and six alternates. He reminded the jurors that their decision must be "solely based on the evidence you see and hear in the courtroom."
Under questioning by defense lawyer Feldman, Haskell testified that his opinions about the flies on Danielle's body were based on "a reasonable degree of scientific certainty."
He said he formed the opinion "based upon the conditions of the body as it was found, fully exposed, the insect fauna . . . and the temperatures we have relating to this period of time."
Under cross-examination by Dusek, he acknowledged he never examined the body himself and based his opinion on temperatures taken in Otay Mesa, about 40 miles from the recovery site.
Dusek also suggested that Haskell's opinion was based on the behavior of flies in Indiana, where the climate is more humid. This year has been the driest in San Diego in more than a century, according to testimony at the trial, and Dusek has been trying to suggest that the extreme weather patterns affected the insects' behavior.
Haskell said he's traveled to Texas and New Mexico to study flies.
Dusek also suggested that the weather caused the body to mummify quickly, which would deter flies from colonizing. He asked whether Haskell had considered the possibility that the girl's body might have begun to mummify while stuck in the storage compartment of Westerfield's motor home for 24 to 36 hours before being dumped.
Westerfield told police he drove his motor home on a trip to the beach, the Imperial County desert and back to the beach again on the weekend Danielle was reported missing.
Earlier in the trial, jurors heard testimony that a dog trained to detect cadavers signaled a positive reaction to a cadaver scent in one of the motor home's storage compartments.
Haskell acknowledged the body might begin to mummify under such a scenario but said that wouldn't affect his findings.
He also rejected Dusek's suggestion that several waves of flies might have colonized the body over a week or more, with the first wave being carried off by animals who ravaged the corpse.
"In my opinion, that is not what happened," Haskell testified.
Meanwhile, Guylyn Cummins, a lawyer for the Union-Tribune, said the newspaper will appeal Mudd's refusal to allow access to secret hearings in the case and transcripts of the numerous secret hearings held.
The North County Times and KGTV-TV, KFMB-TV and KNSD-TV have agreed to join the newspaper in the appeal.
Took me awhile, but I finally got it :~)
sw
sw
FRES...I hear ya...try really hard, but remember "we are only human", we all have a breaking point...me included...
sw
I'm telling ya....
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