An Absolute Disgrace in the Murder Trial of Danielle Van Dam

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Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight.

An absolute disgrace in the murder trial of 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points memo.

According to a report in The San Diego Union Tribune, convicted killer David Westerfield's attorneys, Steven Feldman and Robert Boyce, knew their client was guilty.

The "Trib" says, quote, "Minutes before Danielle van Dam's remains were found on February 27, David Westerfield's lawyers were brokering a deal with prosecutors. He would tell police where he'd dumped the little girl's body, they would not seek the death penalty. Prosecutors were seriously considering the bargain when Danielle's body was discovered. The deal was just minutes away, one of the sources said. But after the body was discovered, the lawyers no longer had anything to discuss regarding a plea bargain."

Thus began the long trial during which Feldman smeared the names of Danielle's parents and introduced the theory that people the Van Dams had allowed into their home may have killed Danielle.

Again, according to the plea bargain offer, Feldman knew Westerfield killed the little girl and was prepared to lead authorities to Danielle's body.

If this report is true, and Talking Points believes it is, then Steven Feldman is not only a villain, he has violated the California rules of conduct for attorneys. Rule 5200 states, "A lawyer shall not seek to mislead the judge, judicial officer, or jury by an artifice or false statement of fact or law." An artifice means making something up.

By maintaining that another person could have killed Danielle while knowing that his client Westerfield did it, Feldman and Boyce were misleading by artifice. That's the legalism.

Here is the no spin. How could any human being do this? How could two lawyers stand in court week after week and try to get a child killer set free when they knew, they knew the man had brutally assaulted and murdered a defenseless little girl?

I made the same point in the Samantha Runnion situation when a defense attorney named John Posa (ph) got Alejandro Avila off on child molestation charges, when Posa knew Avila had failed a lie detector test. Of course, now Avila is charged with murdering little Samantha.

But this case is 100 times worse than that, as far as the lawyers are concerned. Feldman and Boyce concocted phony scenarios to try to mislead the jury into a reasonable doubt situation, and they almost succeeded.

The duty of every defense attorney is to ensure a fair trial for his or her client. A fair trial. That means dishonest tactics are not allowed. Lies are not allowed. Deceit is not allowed. Conjuring up false scenarios is not allowed.

If I were the Van Dams, I would file a grievance against Feldman and boys with the California bar based on their own words in court. The lawyers violated the rules of professional conduct. They should be disbarred, in my opinion.

On a personal note, if I ever run into these guys I will verbally let them have it and I don't care where I am. They are a disgrace to America.

Just think about your own children. How would you feel if a fellow citizen knew somebody murdered your kids and then used trickery to try to get the killer off? How would you feel? There is no excuse in the world for this behavior.

Our justice system needs a complete overhaul. Defense attorneys and judges need to become more accountable for their behavior. I am deeply, deeply outraged over the conduct of Steven Feldman and Robert Boyce, and I hope you are too.

And that's The Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."

Talkers magazine has selected their 25 greatest TV radio and TV talk-show hosts of all time, and your humble correspondent is -- wait for it -- number seven.

Talkers says, quote, "O'Reilly's average looks and plain-spoken manner gives him that every man appeal."

Average looks? Maybe they just listen on the radio.

Anyway, guess who was number one? Our pal Larry King. Johnny Carson, number two. Oprah, number three. And our other pal, Phil Donahue, number four.

I did manage to beat Jerry Springer, which makes me very happy.

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