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Verdict reached in Westerfield trial

Westerfield: Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- Nearly two weeks after it began deliberations, a jury in San Diego announced it has reached a verdict in the trial of David Westerfield, who is accused of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam.

Court officials made the announcement at 1 p.m. EDT, and said the verdict would be read around 2 p.m. EDT. Last-minute procedural discussions delayed the announcement.

The announcement came on the 10th day of deliberations.

Westerfield, 50, is charged with the felony murder and kidnapping of van Dam, who was abducted from her suburban San Diego home in February. Prosecutors have said they would seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

Under California law, Westerfield would be eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted of killing Danielle during the commission of another crime -- kidnapping. He also is charged with a misdemeanor count of possessing child pornography.

Danielle's nude body was found in the Southern California desert February 27, nearly a month after she was apparently abducted from her bedroom in suburban San Diego.

During the trial, which began June 4, the jury heard 100 witnesses and saw nearly 200 exhibits and pieces of evidence.

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On Monday, the six-man, six-woman panel heard a re-reading of testimony that consumed much of the day, said San Diego County Superior Court Judge William Mudd.

Mudd also denied a request Monday by news outlets to open sealed transcripts and criticized the media for reporting on closed hearings.

"The court cannot rely on the good discretion of the media not to do everything in its power to sensationalize that which I excluded from this trial," he said.

Mudd, who has frequently lectured the reporters over what he calls the "frenzy" surrounding the case, said opening sealed documents would threaten the rights of both sides to receive a fair trial and could expose jurors to undue publicity.

Jurors have defied expectations of a quick verdict in the sensational case.

Last Friday, they asked for read-backs of scientific testimony from two experts: Brian Blackbourne, the San Diego County medical examiner who performed the autopsy, and David Faulkner, an entomologist who testified that fly and insect larvae on Danielle's remains suggested her body had been dumped no earlier than February 12.

Faulkner was brought into the case by the prosecution to help fix the time of death. But his conclusions favored the defense, since Westerfield had been placed under police surveillance before that date.

Danielle van Dam

Jurors also have asked to re-hear the recall testimony of Jennifer Shen, a trace evidence analyst, and two interviews with Westerfield himself, including one in which the defendant gave his alibi.

Shen testified that acrylic fibers lifted from a towel found in the Westerfield's SUV and a pillowcase in his bedroom were similar to fibers found on Danielle van Dam's necklace.

The lengthy deliberations have prompted speculation that the jury is have a hard time reaching a verdict. Last week, Mudd denied a motion to sequester what he called "a dedicated and hard-working jury" and blasted reporters covering the case.

Bob Grimes, a San Diego defense lawyer who has been watching the case, said that because of the length of the trial he did not expect a verdict until sometime this week.

"If it goes much longer than that, then that would indicate that they're voting -- they're in some kind of disagreement, and that there would at least be a possibility of a hung jury. We aren't at that point yet," he said.