SAN DIEGO -- Jurors trying to decide what punishment David Westerfield should get for killing Danielle van Dam asked Friday to listen to interviews done with the defendant -- and for access to all penalty phase evidence.

WESTERFIELD TRIAL Judge William Mudd Issues Death Penalty Sentence Hear Jury's Death Penalty Recommendation Watch The Jury's Verdict Being Read Share Your Thoughts DANIELLE VAN DAM 1994-2002 Watch Danielle Video Montage E-mail: daniellevandam @yahoo.com Send mail to: P.O. Box 501515 San Diego, 92150

The six-man, six-woman jury went home after deliberating three hours.

During its third day of deliberations, the panel asked to listen again to a 10News interview reporter Mark Matthews did with the defendant as Westerfield returned to his home in Sabre Springs on Feb. 4, two days after the 7-year-old victim disappeared.

The television interview was played during the trial's guilt phase.

Westerfield, 50, told the reporter that he had just returned from a weekend in the desert and didn't know anything about the missing Sabre Springs child.

The jury also asked to listen again to an interview Westerfield did with police interrogation specialist Paul Redden later on Feb. 4.

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Jury Takes Another Look At Testimony

Jurors heard about 40 minutes of that interview, in which the defendant explains his every move that weekend, including drinking and dancing the night of Feb. 1 with a group including the victim's mother at Dad's Cafe and Steakhouse in nearby Poway.

If jurors are deadlocked, with a high number favoring death, prosecutors would probably retry the penalty phase of trial, experts said.

Prosecutors might let a life sentence stand if the majority of deadlocked jurors favor that punishment, private attorneys said.

The jury Thursday asked for readback of testimony from a 19-year-old woman who told authorities her "Uncle Dave" molested her when she was about 7.

The victim of the alleged molestation said her mother's sister was one of Westerfield's two ex-wives.

Jurors asked to hear readback of testimony from Jenny N., her mother and a police interrogation specialist who said Westerfield brought up the incident during his initial interview following Danielle's disappearance.

The young woman accused Westerfield of molesting her during a family get-together at the defendant's home about 12 years ago.

The sophomore at San Diego State University testified she woke up to find Westerfield in the room in which she was sleeping with her younger sister and the defendant's daughter, Lisa.

"My uncle Dave had his fingers in my mouth," Jenny said. "He was kind of playing with my teeth."

She added that the defendant was "rubbing my teeth or kind of massaging them." She said she pretended to remain asleep as he did so, then watched as he moved to her sister, then back to her.

"He did it again, so I bit him real hard for as long as I could," Jenny testified.

Westerfield then went over to his daughter, she said, and adjusted the shorts he was wearing before leaving the room. She said she waited to make sure he was gone, then went down to tell her mother that her uncle was "being weird."

Jeanne N., who followed her daughter to the witness stand, said she confronted Westerfield, who explained that Jenny was fussing in her sleep and he comforted her. The explanation sounded reasonable, Jeanne said, and the incident was never brought up again.

During cross-examination, both women admitted they were unsure how long ago the incident occurred. Jenny had earlier estimated she was 7, the same age as Danielle was when she was killed.

Jenny explained that she was scared when the events of that night came back to her. She only mentioned the part about the shorts to investigators after talking with her boyfriend and father.

Answering a question from prosecutor Jeff Dusek, Jenny said she never saw if the defendant was doing anything with his other hand. In his closing argument, Dusek said Jenny had no reason to lie.

Redden, who interviewed Westerfield the day investigators focused their attention on him, said the self-employed engineer told him the incident took place in 1994.

In a tape recording of the interview played in court, the defendant said he heard a commotion upstairs that evening, investigated and found one girl's foot tangled in the pants of her sister's pajamas. One of the girls became upset when he straightened the pajamas, he said, so he sent her to her mother.

Jeanne confronted him a week later, he said on the tape.

"I was upset about it at the time," Westerfield told Redden, because of the implication that he had molested young children.

Dusek told jurors they could use the incident as an aggravating factor toward recommending the death penalty if they found Westerfield's actions to be criminal.

Westerfield was also convicted of kidnapping, possession of child pornography and a special circumstance allegation that the murder took place during a kidnapping.