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Jury begins deliberating Westerfield case

Jury goes home; deliberations to resume Friday

Westerfield listens to closing arguments while an image of Danielle van Dam appears on a screen behind him.

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- A San Diego jury began deliberations Thursday in the trial of David Westerfield, accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

The panel of six men and six women adjourned for the day without reaching a verdict. It is set to resume deliberations Friday.

Westerfield, the van Dams' 50-year-old neighbor, is charged with felony murder and kidnapping, plus a misdemeanor count of possessing child pornography. Under the felony murder charge, he is accused of killing the child during the commission of another crime -- kidnapping.

Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

In rebuttal arguments Thursday, lead prosecutor Jeff Dusek said there was no explanation to show how matching orange fibers were found in Westerfield's home and on a necklace Danielle had been wearing.

"No explanation except for guilt. None," Dusek said.

He also reminded jurors that Danielle's hair, blood and fingerprints were found in Westerfield's home and his mobile home.

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Prosecutors projected a picture of Danielle on a screen above Westerfield's head during the rebuttal argument.

On Wednesday, the defense finished closing arguments by repeatedly making the claim that the prosecution's case simply does not hold up.

"There's too many holes, no smoking gun, there's too many explanations, they can't put it together," defense attorney Steven Feldman said.

Feldman said it was the lifestyle of the child's parents that set the stage for her murder -- a murder committed not by his client, David Westerfield, but by someone the couple had unwittingly befriended.

Brenda and Damon van Dam testified about smoking marijuana and knowingly allowing their partners to have sex with others, a practice known as "swinging," which "put their children at risk," Feldman said.

Feldman also tried to cast doubt on lead prosecutor Jeff Dusek's theory that Westerfield entered the van Dam home and spent as long as an hour there before snatching the girl. Feldman said Westerfield "had never been there" before and "it was pitch black."

The abduction, Feldman said, "was most certainly done by somebody very familiar with the family, very familiar with the house."

Prosecutor Jeff Dusek holds a rope as he makes his closing rebuttal Wednesday.

According to prosecutor Dusek, Westerfield entered the van Dam home before her mother returned from a night out and hid somewhere until he could seize Danielle and take her home with him, a few houses away. The father and Danielle's brothers also were at home.

"Somebody broke into that house and got her," Dusek said during closing arguments earlier this week. "Somebody got her out without her screaming, yelling, alerting her family, without the dog doing anything."

Dusek said there was strong evidence that Danielle, who was abducted February 1 or February 2, spent time in Westerfield's home after the kidnapping. Her body was found in the Southern California desert February 27.

Dusek told jurors that after Danielle was reported missing, Westerfield appeared at a dry cleaner's wearing no shoes or socks, and carrying a comforter with hair on it from the van Dams' dog.

A day after taking a trip in his recreational vehicle, Westerfield also gave the cleaners a jacket which a DNA analyst said was spotted with Danielle's blood. Investigators also found Danielle's blood and fingerprints in Westerfield's recreational vehicle, which he parked near his house -- often unlocked.