By Alex Roth
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

May 6, 2002

Hair from 7-year-old Danielle van Dam was found inside David Westerfield's motor home, and prosecutors believe the girl was sexually assaulted before she died, according to court documents made public today.

The documents also refer to other evidence that Westerfield's lawyers label "explosive," but the nature of that evidence remains secret from the public for now.

Westerfield papers Documents in Adobe PDF format. These documents were made available after a legal challenge by the San Diego Union-Tribune. A detailed analysis of the documents will be published in Tuesday's Union-Tribune. Response to prosecution's motion Motion to exclude irrelevant evidence Motion to limit questions re: drug/alcohol experience Motion to exclude hearsay: gate incident Discovery motion: Prosecution jury records Motion to sequester jury Opposition to sequester request Motion for permission to file longer memos Motion to exclude pornographic images Opposition to motion to exclude pornographic images Request for judicial notice Motion to exclude prejudicial photos Opposition to motion to exclude prejudicial photos Motion to compel discovery Motion for discovery Opposition to motion for discovery Response to prosecution's motion for discovery Motion for jury view of scene Response to motion for jury view of scene Support of motion to limit defendant's opening statement Response to motion to limit defendant's opening statement Re: Admissibility of 911 tapes Response to admissibility of 911 tapes Motion to request hearing re: third-party cupability Support of request hearing re: third-party cupability

In all, court officials today released more than two dozen pre-trial motions and other court documents that have been filed by prosecutors and Westerfield's lawyers in the past few weeks.

In one of the motions filed by the District Attorney's Office, prosecutors say they believe Westerfield kidnapped his Sabre Springs neighbor as a way of gratifying his sexual fantasies.

"The defendant kidnapped a seven-year-old girl from her own bed," prosecutor Jeff Dusek said in a document filed April 18. "He killed her, then dumped her nude body in an isolated location. The conclusion is inescapable ... she was sexually molested prior to her murder."

Citing pornography found on Westerfield's computer, Dusek added: "The computer images fed the defendant's fantasies, which he ultimately acted upon.

The documents unsealed today address numerous legal issues in the case, including whether the pornography should be admitted as evidence at trial, whether the jury should be sequestered, and whether Westerfield's lawyers can grill Danielle's parents about their drug and alcohol use.

Superior Court Judge William Mudd is scheduled to begin hearing oral arguments on these motions tomorrow. Jury selection is scheduled to start May 17. Westerfield is charged with kidnapping and murdering Danielle and is facing the death penalty.

Other motions remained sealed on the judge's orders. The sealed motions discuss other potential evidence in the case, including evidence that Westerfield's lawyers label in court documents as "nearly as explosive as a confession." The lawyers didn't specify the nature of this evidence.

Westerfield's lawyers want to keep these sealed motions secret from the public through Westerfield's trial and until all his post-trial appeals are exhausted if he's convicted, according to documents made public today.

The documents unsealed today contain some information that hadn't yet become public in the case. Among other things, prosecutors say Danielle's hair was found inside Westerfield's motor home.

At Westerfield's preliminary hearing in March, law-enforcement witnesses testified that Danielle's blood and fingerprints were found inside Westerfield's motor home, which the twice-divorced engineer kept parked several miles from his Sabre Springs house. Nothing was said then about the girl's hair.

Elsewhere in the documents made public today, prosecutors say Westerfield admitted to police that he was responsible for downloading the pornographic images onto his computer and disks. At his preliminary hearing, Westerfield's lawyers suggested that his teen-age son might have downloaded the images.

"The images were organized, categorized, and labeled so the defendant could easily locate the images he desired," Dusek wrote in the motion. "The images depicted very young nude girls, young girls involved in sexual acts with adult men and other young girls, and young girls involved in sexual acts with animals."

Westerfield, 50, "has admitted to the police that he was solely and personally responsible for downloading, categorizing and maintaining the images," Dusek stated. "Contrary to the insinuations attempted by the defense at the preliminary hearing, neither the defendant's son nor anybody else was responsible for this huge collection of computer images."

In one motion unsealed today, Westerfield's lawyers say the pornographic images are irrelevant to the murder and kidnapping charges and should be excluded as evidence from Westerfield's trial.

Westerfield also faces misdemeanor charges of possessing child pornography. Westerfield's lawyers have filed a separate motion requesting that Westerfield receive a separate trial on the misdemeanor charge. That motion, too, was unsealed today.

Also unsealed were the responses filed by prosecutors, who say the pornographic images help prove motive in the case and thus should be admissible as evidence.