Condemned child killer David Westerfield wanted to skip his trial and go straight to the execution, a newly-released videotape of his police interrogation shows.

"As far as I'm concerned, my life is over," Westerfield told a pair of San Diego detectives grilling him about the kidnapping of his 7-year-old neighbor, Danielle van Dam, last Februrary.

Danielle van Dam

Minutes later, the 50-year-old successful design engineer slumped over on a table and seemed to ask for the chance to kill himself.

"If you wanted to leave your gun here for a few minutes, I'd appreciate it," he said to a departing detective, Mark Keyser. The detective refused, calling the suggestion "silly."

A judge sentenced Westerfield to death Friday for the abduction and murder of Danielle. Prosecutors released the 47-minute tape Tuesday after Judge William Mudd granted a request from the media to unseal a trove of case material deemed too prejudicial to be made public during the trial.

In the interrogation, which took place four days after Danielle went missing from her bedroom, Westerfield admitted some strange sex practices, including cutting his former wife's panties off as she slept, but denied any interest in young girls like Danielle.

"No, I like a woman with boobs," he told detectives. He acknowledged downloading child pornography found on his computers, but claimed he was just "documenting it for future reference," not looking at it.

"I know it looks bad, but I'm telling you, it wasn't something I was directly interested in," he said. Among the pornography were video clips of young girls being raped.

The interview took place Feb. 5. By the time searchers found Danielle's body on Feb. 27, it was too decomposed to determine if she had been sexually assaulted. Prosecutors, however, theorized that Westerfield repeatedly raped her in his home and recreational vehicle before killing her and dumping her on an isolated roadside.

Detectives repeatedly urged him to confess and save Danielle's parents the heartache of not knowing their daughter's fate, but Westerfield insisted on his innocence.

"I want to talk to a lawyer. You're asking me to admit to something and as far as I'm concerned I didn't do it, and I know you're adamant that I did," he said.

Jurors, who recommended a death sentence for Westerfield, only heard portions of his interrogation. The judge ruled much of the interview as well as other unrecorded interviews inadmissible because police officers began violating Westerfield's rights as the questioning, which last two days, dragged on.

The videotape clearly shows Westerfield asking for an attorney. During one five-minute period, he asked for a lawyer eight different times and stated he had been requesting counsel since shortly after police began talking to him. The two detectives are shown trying to dissuade him from consulting one.

"He's probably going to tell you don't talk to the police anymore," detective Michael Ott said.

Westerfield, however, was insistent.

"Nobody is looking out over David's rights," he told them shortly before he is escorted out the room to give DNA samples and apparently to meet with his attorney.

Spencer Busby, the van Dam's civil attorney, said he was incredulous that Westerfield complained about his treatment by officers at the same time his victim's body was still laying by a roadside.

"He's concerned about Dave's rights? Dave's?" Busby asked in an interview Wednesday. "I think he was trying to work out a plea deal."

Westerfield is still being held in jail in downtown San Diego. He is expected to be moved to to San Quentin by Monday. On Friday, Busby, who has filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of the family, will ask a judge to issue a restraining order preventing Westerfield from disposing of any assets. Westerfield has little or no money, but the family is concerned about him selling his story while in prison.