Child killer David Westerfield sentenced to death!

[Brian]

SAN DIEGO (Jan. 3) -- David Westerfield, called a ''monster seeking only self-gratification,'' was sentenced to death Friday in the kidnap and murder of 7-year-old neighbor Danielle van Dam.

Superior Court Judge William Mudd imposed the sentence, which had been recommended by a jury, after tearful testimony from the girl's parents. Danielle was snatched from her bedroom last February and her body was found month later.

''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,'' the girl's mother, Brenda van Dam, told Westerfield while fighting back tears.

''You did not deserve any leniency, any mercy, because you refused to give it to Danielle.''

Westerfield sat without emotion, as he had done throughout the trial. He declined to make a statement before sentencing, turning aside the mother's plea that he apologize.

''Our precious Danielle was taken by a monster seeking only self-gratification,'' she said. She remembered her daughter as ''a real girly girl'' who liked to cook and have her nails painted.

Earlier, she had burst into tears as the judge recounted how her daughter's body was found naked and missing teeth.

Danielle's father, Damon van Dam, said he regretted that he would 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.''

The killing was the first in a string of child abductions that gripped the nation last year. The sentence, which is automatically appealed, made the 50-year-old engineer the 617th inmate on California's death row.

In motions filed last week, prosecutors said there was no justification for anything less than the death penalty for such an ''evil, selfish, cold-hearted child killer.''

Attorneys for Westerfield had argued that police misconduct would justify a lesser sentence. They contended detectives interrogated Westerfield without reading him his rights or letting him talk to a lawyer.

Danielle was last seen Feb. 1, when her father put her to bed in the family's home in an upper-middle class neighborhood of San Diego. Her nude body was found nearly a month later along a road outside the city, too decomposed to determine the cause of death or whether she had been sexually assaulted.

Westerfield, who lived two doors away and bought Girl Scout cookies from Danielle days before her disappearance, became an early suspect.

Investigators learned he was at the same bar as Danielle's mother and two friends the night Danielle vanished. He left in his motor home early the next day as police and volunteers searched the neighborhood.

Ultimately, the girl's blood was found on Westerfield's jacket, and her hair was discovered in his bedroom. Investigators also found Danielle's blood, hair and fingerprints inside his motor home.

For reasons the defense did not explain, Westerfield decided to exercise his rights to a speedy trial. On Aug. 21, he was convicted of murder, kidnapping and possessing child pornography - an unusually rapid end for a capital case.

During the two-month trial, the defense suggested Danielle's parents' lifestyle had put the little girl in danger by opening their home to potential suspects. The couple and authorities maintained their personal life had no connection to the abduction.

On Thursday, the parents filed a lawsuit accusing Westerfield of wrongful death. The suit is intended largely to prevent Westerfield from profiting if he decides to write a book or sell his story.

California's death row is by far the largest of any state. Just 10 people have been executed there since 1976, including one in 2002.


I can't believe I live about twenty-minutes away from where this guy used to reside. I was following the case right from the beginning.

[Mijada]

Good, That's just what he deserves.

[new england holiday]

I found it horrible that the family had to relive all of this over again... It was such an emotional time over the summer and in the end he just got the same sentence that he got in the first place.

[Montana Ponine]

That is just horrible about Danielle van Dam. Poor thing..and her poor parents. I'm glad David Westerfield is being punished as he deserves.

[Christopher]

Good. I'm glad he didn't get away with it.

[White_Daisy]

To think that he's actually trying to get a lesser sentence...I don't understand how anyone could sit through a trial like that without a single emotion on his face especially if he was the killer!

[AnaheimPMWitch]

I'm glad He totally got what He deserved I feel bad for Danielles family

[Kay Scarpetta]

That's so sad about the girl.... but I'm glad he's getting what he deserves

[Hollow]

I think the death sentence is wrong but i guess thats good that he got punished

[Pitooey]

I watched the trial from the beginning too and I think he is getting what he deserves. (Even though I heard that the people on Death Row have it really good).

I don't believe in the Death Sentence but, he killed a little innocent child and I believe Child Molesters should be put to death.

[JDS84]

Good. I'm glad he is going to get whats coming to him.

[Penny Lane]

[Brian]

Originally posted by Kelly Osbourne
I think the death sentence is wrong but i guess thats good that he got punished

I agree with you to some extent. There are some people who deserve the death penalty and some who don't but there are usually those who deserve it more than others.

[laceyinthesky]

I'm glad he got the death penalty but there's still something that bothers the hell out of me about people on death row. What are the chances of him actually being put to death? Like in the original post on this thread, there are currently 617 inmates on death row in California alone, and only 10 people have been executed since 1976. Think about it... that's 617 people that we pay taxes to take care of until they decide to kill them... and then once prisons become full they have to spend more money to build more prisons. If they'd just go ahead and execute people after a few years rather than waiting decades, there would be less people we'd have to feed and more room in prisons.. therefore there wouldn't be such a need for more prisons.

[laceyinthesky]

One more thing I forgot to add.. I meant executing obviously guilty murderers.. not ones that there are some questions about.