Phoenix's Serial Shooter gets 6 death sentences
By JACQUES BILLEAUD – March 27, 2009
PHOENIX (AP) — The main suspect in the Phoenix Serial Shooter attacks was sentenced to death Friday for six murders that put the city on edge for nearly two years.
Dale Hausner was convicted earlier this month of killing six people and attacking 19 others in random nighttime shootings in 2005 and 2006.
As the jury's decisions were announced, the former janitor was expressionless, keeping his head down as he flipped through papers in front of him. Before being led out of the courtroom, Hausner thanked the judge who presided over his trial.
Hausner's mother was whisked out of the courtroom through a back door by one of his lawyers. One of the attorneys, Tim Agan, wouldn't comment on the six death sentences.
Even though Hausner, 36, has denied any involvement in the attacks since his arrest in August 2006, he apologized to the families of the victims on Thursday and said he would take his punishment "like a man" if it helps them heal. He declined the opportunity to call his own witnesses and instructed his attorneys not to ask jurors for leniency on his behalf.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Monday on 74 other convictions.
Prosecutors said Hausner preyed on pedestrians, bicyclists, dogs and horses during a 14-month conspiracy that occasionally included his brother and his former roommate, Sam Dieteman.
"It's justice as much as it can be," said Rebecca Estrada, whose 20-year-old son, David Estrada, was shot to death in Tolleson in June 2005. "The death penalty is the limit and that's what he deserves."
Michael Anthony Scerbo, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case, wouldn't comment on the sentences.
The Serial Shooter attacks and an unrelated serial killer case kept police and neighborhood watch groups on high alert in the summer of 2006. Families stayed inside as police searched for the killers. Authorities called meetings that drew hundreds of people.
Police said their big break came when one of Dieteman's drinking buddies, Ron Horton, called them to say Dieteman had bragged about shooting people.
"They called it 'RV'ing.' Random Recreational Violence," Horton told The Associated Press in a 2006 interview. Horton died last year.
Dieteman pleaded guilty to two of the killings and is awaiting sentencing. He testified against Hausner, saying he and his roommate cruised around late at night looking for strangers to shoot. He could also face the death penalty.
Dieteman said Hausner professed a hatred for prostitutes and homeless people as they looked for victims in areas frequented by streetwalkers. Still, Dieteman said, Hausner never explained why he wanted to shoot people.
Hausner cast himself as a busy divorced father of a sick daughter, a ladies' man and a go-getter with side jobs in standup comedy, bartending and boxing photography. He also made an appearance in a TV commercial for a personal injury law firm.
He has suggested that Dieteman may have carried out some of the attacks, saying his roommate could have taken his car.
Hausner offered alibis that included being at his girlfriends' houses, shopping at the grocery store, driving in another part of the Phoenix area or taking care of his daughter.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
