Woman Gets Job Back After Smoking Pot With Van Dams

SAN DIEGO -- A flight attendant fired after she testified in the David Westerfield trial that she smoked marijuana with Danielle van Dam's parents has won her job back, it was reported Thursday.

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Denise Kemal (pictured, left) was rehired as a flight attendant on Southwest Airlines after appealing the company's decision to fire her for her violation of the airline's zero-tolerance drug policy, The San Diego-Union Tribune reported.

SURVEY Denise Kemal testified during the David Westerfield trial that she smoked marijuana and was later fired from her job. Do you think she should get her job back after violating the company's zero-tolerance drug policy? Yes No Results  |  Disclaimer

Kemal was fired in June after company executives saw the nationally televised kidnapping and murder trial. She will return to work immediately, the Union-Tribune reported.

As part of the agreement, she will have to submit to regular drug testing and will not receive back pay, the newspaper reported.

Westerfield was convicted in August of kidnapping and killing 7-year-old Danielle van Dam. The same jury that convicted Westerfield recommended he be executed. His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 22.

San Diego attorney Spencer Busby, the van Dams' lawyer, told the Union-Tribune that Kemal's marijuana smoking "would have never come out but for what he did."

"She fulfilled her civic duty," he told the newspaper. "It would be inappropriate to penalize her for testifying truthfully."

Kemal testified on June 10, that she and her neighbor Barbara Easton accompanied Brenda van Dam to Dad's Cafe and Steakhouse in Poway on Jan. 25 and Feb. 1.

During her testimony, Kemal said she took a few puffs of a marijuana cigarette both nights at the cafe and at the van Dam's home.

In July, Kemal told the newspaper she didn't regularly smoke marijuana and that she had passed all random drug tests during her 3 1/2-year employment at Southwest Airlines.