Phoenix "Baseline Killer" captured ?

[Pook]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...national/crime

Trial Begins for Suspect in Sex Assault Case Linked to 'Baseline Killer'

Monday , July 23, 2007

Police say the Baseline Killer roamed neighborhoods in the Phoenix area for nearly a year, preying on people at random, killing nine and assaulting and robbing others.


On Monday, a former construction worker charged in the case faces 20 charges including sexual assault, all but one stemming from an alleged attack on two sisters in September 2005.

The trial, expected to last until late August, is the first of two for Mark Goudeau. A second trial that includes nine murder counts has not yet been scheduled. Goudeau has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The prosecutor's sex assault case against Goudeau stems from a massive police investigation of the Baseline Killer, a serial predator named for the south Phoenix street where many of the early attacks took place.

Goudeau, 42, who lived near where many of the attacks happened, was arrested on Sept. 6, 2006. Police said DNA evidence linked him to the attack on the two sisters a year earlier in a south Phoenix park.

That DNA link promises to be a major point of contention during the trial.
Defense lawyer Corwin Townsend said he is skeptical of the conclusions of government forensic analysts. He wanted to conduct his own test of a key sample, but DNA technicians used up the original swab they say linked Goudeau to the attack.

Townsend called for the case to be dismissed because of the lack of evidence available for an independent analysis. But Judge Andrew Klein rejected that request based on prosecutors' assertions that Townsend could still test a DNA "extraction" from the original police investigation.
Townsend also tried and failed to move the case out of the Phoenix area, arguing that intense media attention has tainted potential jurors. A jury was selected last week after prospective jurors were questioned about their attitudes about rape, race and the police.

Numerous police officers and forensic specialists, as well as the two victims, are expected to testify.

Both sisters now say they recognize Goudeau as their attacker. However, neither identified him in photo lineups before he was arrested and his mug shot was shown on TV. One of the sisters previously identified another man.

[crimeshot1]

Baseline Killer suspect gets 438 years in sex assaults

Guilty in sex attack, Goudeau still faces trial in 9 murders

Michael Kiefer

The Arizona Republic
Dec. 15, 2007 12:00 AM
Mark Goudeau, the man police and prosecutors believe to be the "Baseline Killer" responsible for at least nine murders, was sentenced Friday to hundreds of years in prison.

His next fight will be for his life.


A Maricopa County Superior Court judge ordered Goudeau, 43, to serve 438 years in prison for 19 charges relating to a September 2005 sexual attack on two sisters in Phoenix. He was convicted by a jury in September.

Goudeau is scheduled to go back on trial in August on 74 counts, including nine killings linked to the so-called Baseline Killer who terrorized Phoenix during 2005 and 2006.

After the sentencing, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas reiterated his resolve to seek the death penalty in those murders.

And Goudeau's main defense attorney in the murder cases reiterated his resolve to champion Goudeau's legal fight.

"We're very disheartened over the sentence (Friday)," attorney Randall Craig said. "But in terms of the upcoming trial, a man's life is at stake, and we're going to move forward very diligently to ensure that he gets a fair trial, which he is entitled to under the law."

Corwin Townsend and Cary Lackey, Goudeau's attorneys in the sexual-assault trial, said their client did not get a fair trial, and they promised to file an appeal immediately.

"We never won a single motion," Townsend said.

"From the pretrial motions to the end of the trial, up to and including the sentencing," Lackey added.

Goudeau has never admitted guilt to any charge, and he professed his innocence again at his sentencing.

"What happened to those two girls, Judge, was horrible," he said in his distinctive, twangy voice, "but I had nothing to do with it."

In September 2005, two sisters in their 20s, one of whom was six months pregnant, were walking home from a neighborhood park when they were accosted by a man brandishing a pistol.

The women were forced to strip and lie down in bushes alongside the road. The assailant put the gun between the legs of the sister who was pregnant and made her beg for her life and that of her unborn baby.

Then, the younger sister was sexually assaulted repeatedly.

Goudeau was arrested nearly a year later, on Sept. 6, 2006, and charged with 18 counts related to the attack: 10 of sexual assault, two of kidnapping, two of aggravated assault, two of sexual abuse and two of attempted sexual assault. There also was one drug count.

A year later, after a contentious trial that lasted nearly eight weeks, a jury convicted him on all counts.

Both victims and their mother spoke at Friday's sentencing, asking for the maximum punishment, which earlier was estimated earlier as 70 to 285 years.

But Judge Andrew Klein chose to give aggravated sentences, all but one stacked consecutively so that they totaled 438 years.

Each of the 10 sexual-assault convictions, for example, brought a sentence of 28 years.

"It's clear that you can't function in a civilized society," Klein told Goudeau.

Klein cited Goudeau's five felony convictions for violent crimes committed in 1989 and 1990 as factors in the harsh sentence.

Goudeau beat a woman nearly to death in August 1989 and then threatened two men with guns when they tried to help. Then, before he had been sentenced for those crimes, he robbed a supermarket at gunpoint in 1990.

Goudeau was subsequently sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was paroled in 2004, after 13 years as a model prisoner.

In the sentencing Friday, Klein also alluded to the upcoming murder trial: "If the state's evidence can be proved in the next year, then these girls clearly are lucky to be alive."

Goudeau's wife, Wendy Carr, spoke in his behalf, excoriating the judge and prosecutors for what she felt was an unfair trial.

"I've witnessed things in this last year that have changed my life forever," she said. "Mark is innocent, and no unlawful trial full of lies will change my mind."

Deputy County Attorney Suzanne Cohen answered Carr's allegations when it was her turn to speak.

"The defendant, through his wife, continues to harm these two young girls," the prosecutor said. "These girls were in their own neighborhood, where they have a right to feel safe.

"Evil sometimes wins. But in this case, evil did not win."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...ator14-on.html

[Bailey]

Feb. 24, 2009 12:21 PM

A prosecutor in Phoenix's Serial Shooter case said in closing arguments Tuesday that the main suspect carried out the shootings for fame and kept news clippings of the crimes as “trophies.”

Prosecutor Laura Reckart told jurors that Dale Hausner had an elaborate plan to “kill, maim, destroy and terrify.”

The 36-year-old is on trial on charges of killing eight people and attacking 20 others in a series of random nighttime shootings in 2005 and 2006.

Reckart said everything about Hausner points to his desire for notoriety — a job in boxing photography, a hosting gig for a cable TV show, and a role in a local commercial for a law group. She said articles of the shootings and a videotape of America's Most Wanted about the killings found in Hausner's apartment were trophies, “his celebrity-status symbols.”

“The articles show the motive behind the plan — fame, notoriety,” she said. “He wanted to be renowned, a legend, a pioneer.”

Prosecutors allege that Hausner attacked people and animals from his car in a conspiracy that occasionally included his roommate, Samuel Dieteman, and his brother, Jeff Hausner. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Dale Hausner if he is convicted.

Dieteman, who pleaded guilty in two of the killings and could face the death penalty when he is sentenced, testified against Hausner last month, saying the two of them had driven around the Valley shooting people from a car.

Hausner has denied any involvement in the attacks and testified in his own defense for several days during the nearly six-month long trial. He offered alibis in a bid to refute the charges against him, saying he couldn't have carried out the crimes because he was at his girlfriends' houses, shopping at the grocery store, driving in another part of the metro area or taking care of his sick daughter. Hausner also suggested that Dieteman may have carried out some of the killings and testified that news clippings about the attacks that were found in his apartment reflected his interest in the shootings and nothing more.

In court on Tuesday, Reckart meticulously went over evidence found in Hausner's and Dieteman's apartment, a garbage bin and in Hausner's car, including guns and spent shells.

She said a map marking the locations of some of the killings found in Hausner's apartment “revealed his favorite hunting ground.”

“It is not happenstance the defendant's fingerprints were found on this map nor is it an accident that this map was found in the trash with mail belonging to the defendant,” she said. “It is not coincidence, because ladies and gentlemen, the defendant committed these crimes.”

Reckart said police wiretaps that recorded conversations between Hausner and Dieteman also prove that Hausner carried out the killings.

“The defendant has revealed to you in these statements that indeed, it is his plan, his modus operandi, to circle around looking for victims, just like a shark circling its prey,” she said. “It is no accident he says these things. He knew the plan, he knew the method, he knew the modus operandi of the Serial Shooter, because Dale Hausner is the Serial Shooter.”

Defense attorneys have said during Hausner's trial that the real killer is Dieteman and that he testified against Hausner to avoid the death penalty.

The Serial Shooters case was one of two serial murder investigations that put the Phoenix area on edge for months during the summer of 2006. Police attributed another 23 attacks, including nine slayings, to an assailant dubbed the Baseline Killer.

A month after Hausner and Dieteman's August 2006 arrests, police arrested Mark Goudeau and eventually accused him of being the Baseline Killer. Goudeau was convicted of two sexual assaults authorities link to the Baseline Killer. He was sentenced to 438 years in prison in that case and still faces trial on the murder counts.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...rialclose.html

[Bailey]

by Michael Kiefer - Feb. 27, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

"He doesn't look like much," prosecutor Vince Imbordino said as he pointed at "Serial Shooter" suspect Dale Hausner, who was fidgeting at the defendant's table in the courtroom.

"You might have passed him on the street and not noticed him. He doesn't look like a killer," Imbordino said. "Evil doesn't have a face."

Hausner is on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court. He is charged with 87 crimes, including eight murders.

After six months of trial, testimony from nearly 150 witnesses, including Hausner and his co-defendant Samuel Dieteman, the jury will decide whether Imbordino's words are true.

Is Hausner an ordinary - and innocent - man? Or is he one of the Serial Shooters who terrorized the Valley for 14 months in 2005 and 2006?

The jury of six men and six women began deliberating after lunch Thursday and is expected to continue today. How long it takes them to arrive at 87 verdicts - for the murders, attempted murders, aggravated assaults, drive-by shootings, arsons, cruelty to animals - is anyone's guess.

If Hausner is found guilty of any of the murders, the jury will reconvene to hear more testimony and decide if he deserves to die by lethal injection or spend life in prison.

On Thursday, Imbordino left the jury with some philosophical observations. Don't try to find a reason why a man would commit such crimes, he told them: "Unfortunately, there's not always a reason."

He held up the box of newspaper clippings that Hausner kept of the crimes.


He mused on his own childhood growing up on a ranch in Texas and wondered who could ever shoot a horse: Hausner is accused of killing three.

"Ever have a puppy lick your face?" he asked. "You couldn't kill one."

Hausner is accused of killing five and wounding two.

And the human victims? Eight dead and 18 wounded: Imbordino pointed to a stack of pink folders, one for each of them.


"This is what their lives have been reduced to," he said.

"When this trial is over, whatever the result, I hope people will remember (Hausner) for what he is," he said. "A coward."

"An ordinary coward committed an extraordinary series of crimes."


http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...usner0227.html

[Bailey]

by Michael Kiefer - Mar. 14, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic


The jurors took their job seriously, slogging through 87 counts, testimony from 150 witnesses and notes from six long months of trial.
After more than two weeks of deliberation, they brought back 80 guilty verdicts Friday afternoon in Maricopa County Superior Court, including six of eight murders.
Their verdict was confirmation: Dale Hausner was the mastermind of the 14-month "Serial Shooter" killing spree in 2005 and 2006 that left at least six men and women dead, wounded 18 more, and killed or wounded nine animals.
The verdicts bring a symbolic close to the events that, along with a second serial-killer case, left the Valley on edge for the summer of 2006, as killers prowled the streets and police worked desperately to find them.
Rebecca Estrada, mother of murder victim David Estrada, sobbed as the verdicts were read.
"He has made my family and myself the most sorrowful family on Earth by taking away David," she said afterward, but she was happy to hear the guilty verdicts. "It helps immensely."
The trial is not over.
When the jury returns on March 23 after a week's vacation, it will kick into a new phase as it determines whether the crimes merit the death penalty.
Some of the factors that would call for the death penalty are obvious. He is convicted of multiple serious crimes. Prosecutors will also try to convince the jury that the murders were carried out in a "cruel and heinous" and "cold and calculating" manner.
Hausner showed little emotion as the verdicts were read.
When the clerk had finished reading, Hausner's mother and two of his brothers were hustled out of the courtroom by sheriff's deputies for their own safety.
"I just want you to know that our hearts go out to the victims of these crimes," Randy Hausner said as he was rushed to an elevator. "We pray for their recovery, and that's where we want to put our focus."
Mary Patrick, mother of shooting victim Paul Patrick, gave an exhausted smile and said, "We're just thankful it's over."
Paul, who attended nearly every hearing, suffered a stroke during the last days of the trial and is hospitalized in critical condition. The stroke is possibly related to his 2006 shooting injuries. Mary said she wished he could have been there for the verdicts.

Verdicts finally here
It was only the earliest crimes in the Serial Shooter case that apparently gave jurors pause: They brought back not-guilty verdicts for the murder of Tony Mendez, shot to death on his bicycle in west Phoenix on the night of May 17, 2005, and Reginald Remillard, a transient shot through the neck and killed while sleeping on a bus-stop bench at Seventh Avenue and Camelback Road seven days later.
They could not convict Hausner of shooting a horse in the West Valley on July 25, 2005, or for trying to kill a dog on Nov. 11, 2005, supposedly before being distracted by Nathaniel Shoffner, whom Hausner shot and killed, instead.
Remillard's sisters attended Friday's verdict reading and said they still had some sense of closure knowing Hausner was convicted of the majority of the charges, even if their brother's death wasn't one of them.
"We're happy he's not going to be out in the public ever again," said Marci Matt, one of the sisters. "We know that he's guilty."
Many of the charges depended on the testimony of Samuel Dieteman, Hausner's accomplice for many of the crimes committed in 2006.
Dieteman was not an eyewitness to the 2005 shootings, although he claimed that Hausner and Hausner's other brother Jeff had bragged to him about some of those crimes.
Dieteman has pleaded guilty in the two murders in 2006 and conspiracy to commit murder. Several counts were dropped in exchange for his testimony against Dale.
Jeff is already serving prison time for one stabbing and will still stand trial for another, a May 2006 attack on a man in west Phoenix named Timothy Davenport. Dale was found guilty in that attack on Friday.
Jeff Hausner also was implicated by Dieteman in two of the murders, although Jeff has not been charged.
After the verdicts were read, Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill said, "The investigators and prosecutors are pleased with the verdict. The justice system is moving ahead."
Hill was the voice of the investigation in 2005 and 2006, when the Valley was consumed by simultaneous hunts for the killer in the Serial Shooter case and for another predator known as the "Baseline Killer." Total death toll: 17, plus countless attacks.

2 serial-killer cases
By summer 2006, police realized they had two serial-killer cases under way, and the Valley cowered in fear. Many people were afraid to go out at night, and if they did, they cringed every time a car drove slowly toward them.
In the Serial Shooter case, police believed a killer was stalking the streets from Tolleson to Mesa, looking for random victims to shoot from a car window.
The Baseline Killer was snatching women off busy street corners, sometimes in broad daylight, robbing and raping, and shooting eight women and one man in the head. He often struck in south Phoenix, just north or south of Baseline Road, and in a square-mile section of central Phoenix near 32nd Street and Thomas Road.
A break came when informants called police, saying they had heard Dieteman talking about the shootings in bars. Police followed him and Dale Hausner as they seemed to troll for victims, and then set up an emergency wiretap at their Mesa apartment, where they were overheard talking about the attacks. The two were arrested there Aug. 3, 2006.
Hausner was a janitor at Sky Harbor International Airport who dabbled in photography. Dieteman was an unemployed electrician. Later, both would testify they drank heavily and used methamphetamine. In the apartment, police found scrapbooks of newspaper articles about the Serial Shooter and Baseline Killer attacks.
A month later, an ex-convict named Mark Goudeau was arrested at his central Phoenix home. He has been convicted in two rapes in the Baseline Killer case and awaits trial on other charges.
Hausner, 36, went on trial Sept. 3.
Several victims took the stand to describe their pain and suffering.
Dieteman, who met Hausner in April 2006, testified that Hausner imagined he was carrying out some kind of social cleansing.
He provided damning testimony regarding Hausner's mind-set and provided details, not only of crimes he witnessed, but others that he claimed the Hausner brothers told him about. Hausner's ex-wife and three of his girlfriends unraveled his alibis.
And then, there were the wiretap recordings, in which Hausner was heard making cartoon voices and laughing about the anguished cries of Robin Blasnek, a 22-year-old woman killed on July 30, 2006.
Blasnek was his final victim.
Rebecca Estrada, the mother of Hausner's first confirmed victim, David Estrada, killed June 29, 2005, in Tolleson, said that hearing the wiretap recording was a final straw for her. "I was so appalled by those tapes," she said, "hearing them mimicking Robin. That's when I became really angry."

The Arizona Republic

[Bailey]

Associated Press - March 23, 2009 3:24 PM ET
PHOENIX (AP) - Jurors returned to a Phoenix courtroom Monday to begin deciding the fate of a man convicted in a series of random nighttime shootings that terrorized the city.
The jury found Dale Shawn Hausner guilty March 13 of murdering six people during the Serial Shooter attacks.
On Monday, jurors listened to testimony from the medical examiner who performed the autopsies on 2 of the victims.
Prosecutor Vince Imbordino put Dr. Philip Keen on the stand to talk about the pain each of the two victims likely experienced before they died.
Keen testified that one victim would have likely felt "burning and aching" common with gunshot wounds.
He said the other victim would have experienced more pain because she was shot from farther away, which means shotgun pellets would have hit her over a larger area of her body.

http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp...4&nav=14RTZsuK

[Bailey]

Serial shooter Dale Hausner was sentenced to six death sentences this morning in Maricopa County Superior Court.

On March 13, Hausner, 36, was found guilty of 80 crimes, including six murders and multiple counts of attempted first- degree murder, aggravated assault, drive-by shooting, arson and animal cruelty.

On Tuesday, jurors determined that there were 22 aggravating factors that could earn Hausner as many as six death sentences. Hausner is convicted of killing David Estrada, Jose Ortis, Nathaniel Shoffner, Marco Carillo, Claudia Gutierrez Cruz and Robin Blasnek from June 2005 to July 2006. Hausner was found not guilty of two other murders but guilty of shooting at or wounding 18 other people and 10 animals over a 14-month shooting spree that terrorized the Valley.

Earlier this week, Hausner waived his right to present “mitigating” evidence about his background and life that might have persuaded the jury to spare his life. And he ordered his lawyers not to argue on his behalf.

On Monday, Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle will sentence Hausner for the other 74 crimes for which he's been found guilty: multiple counts of drive-by shooting, aggravated assault, attempted first-degree murder, arson and animal cruelty. He's likely to get hundreds of years in prison.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/a...gs0327-ON.html

Mar. 27, 2009 12:04 PM

[Bailey]

Associated Press - June 3, 2009 1:54 PM ET

PHOENIX (AP) - The pool of prospective jurors at the sentencing trial of convicted killer Samuel Dieteman is down to 40 people.

Lawyers are scheduled to return to court on June 25 to complete jury selection.

Dieteman faces a possible death penalty after pleading guilty to two murders in metro Phoenix's Serial Shooter attacks.

Opening arguments are expected to begin within one to three weeks after jury selection is completed.

Earlier this year, the 33-year-old testified against his former roommate, 36-year-old Dale Hausner.

Dieteman told jurors that he and Hausner cruised streets looking for strangers to shoot.

Hausner was given six death sentences and hundreds of years in prison for killing six people and attacking 19 others in 2005 and 2006.

http://www.kswt.com/Global/story.asp...av=menu613_2_6

[Bailey]

Jeff Hausner gets 18 years
'Serial Shooter' sibling sentenced in stabbing of pedestrian in 2006
by Michael Kiefer - Jun. 16, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Jeff Hausner, brother of convicted "Serial Shooter" Dale Hausner, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in Maricopa County Superior Court Monday for stabbing a man in 2006.

Hausner, 42, already is nearly three years into a 7 1/2-year sentence for another stabbing he committed while joy riding with Dale Hausner and fellow Serial Shooter Samuel Dieteman.

Sporting a new buzz cut, in contrast with his usually unkempt long hair and bushy mustache, Hausner addressed Judge Roland Steinle.

"I do maintain my innocence, and I hope through the appeal process that I can prove it," he said.

Steinle, who presided over the Dale Hausner and Dieteman cases as well, was unconvinced.

It was Dieteman who first fingered Jeff Hausner as a participant in the Serial Shooter crimes that terrorized the Valley for a 14-month period in 2005 and 2006. Eight people died in those attacks, 17 were wounded and 10 animals were shot.

Jeff Hausner committed the two stabbings while out with Dieteman and Dale Hausner, looking for "random recreational violence," as Dieteman described it in his confessions.

Dieteman also implicated Jeff Hausner in two of the 2005 murders; he has not been charged in those shootings.

Dale Hausner, 36, was convicted in March of 80 crimes, including six murders. A jury sentenced him to death.

Dieteman, 33, has pleaded guilty to two murders and is on trial now, also before Steinle, to determine whether he deserves the death penalty. That trial is in the jury-selection phase.

On May 17, 2006, the three men were riding in Dale Hausner's car when they spotted Timothy Davenport, 36, walking along Camelback Road near 75th Avenue. Jeff got out of the car as Dale circled back to talk to Davenport through the window of his car. Jeff snuck up behind Davenport and stabbed him three times in the back. When Davenport turned to look at his attacker, Jeff slashed his face and stabbed him in the side.

A jury found Jeff Hausner guilty of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated assault on May 14. Steinle gave Jeff Hausner 18 years for the attempted murder and 11 years for aggravated assault, to be served simultaneously.

After Monday's sentencing, a third Hausner brother, Randy, was hesitant to condemn his brothers, yet not willing to "justify heinous acts."

"I have to stand up for what's right and what's real," he said. "What you plant is what you grow. If you do evil, it comes back to you. I hope Timothy Davenport gets the justice he deserves. It boils my blood to think that an innocent person can be harmed."

When asked if the trials have been "tough" on the Hausner family, he responded, "Yes, but not as tough as being stabbed."

Davenport did not attend the sentencing.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepu...usner0616.html

[Bailey]

PHOENIX, AZ -- On Wednesday morning, Samuel Dieteman's defense attorney pleaded with the jury to have compassion, mercy and leniency when sentencing the convicted serial shooter.

Jurors must decide whether to sentence the convicted killer to death.

Dietman pleaded guilty to two of the six murders committed over a 14 month shooting spree in 2005 and 2006.

During the shooting spree, 19 others were injured.

As part of a plea agreement, he testified against co-defendant Dale Hausner.

Hausner was convicted and sentenced to death earlier this year.

In opening arguments, Dieteman's attorney described him as being homeless, drunk and stunned the first night he saw co-defendant Dale Hausner pull a rifle and shoot an innocent person.

But the prosecution countered with a short voice recording of Samuel Dieteman requesting the obituary of one of his victims.

If jurors decide to spare Dieteman's life, he will be sentenced to life in prison.

The sentencing phase is expected to last two weeks.
Last Update: 2:24 pm

http://www.abc15.com/content/news/ph...VGyRAlCjQ.cspx

[Bailey]

by Michael Kiefer - Jul. 15, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Admitted "Serial Shooter" Samuel Dieteman goes on trial today in Maricopa County Superior Court so that a jury can decide whether he deserves the death penalty.

Or the jury can send Dieteman to prison for life after weighing his role in putting his former roommate Dale Hausner on death row and in putting Hausner's brother Jeff in prison for 25 years.

Together, the three men were responsible for the 14-month-long Serial Shooter crime spree of 2005 and 2006. Eight people died, 17 more were wounded and 10 animals were shot.

Dieteman, 33, already has pleaded guilty to the May 2006 murder of Claudia Gutierrez Cruz and to being present when Dale Hausner shot and killed Robin Blasnek nearly three months later. Dieteman also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Several other charges were dropped in exchange for his testimony against the Hausner brothers. Dale was sentenced to death in March for six murders, including those of Cruz and Blasnek; Jeff was convicted of aggravated assault for two stabbings.

Dieteman also agreed to forgo argument over four "aggravating factors" that qualify him for the death sentence, specifically that the murders were heinous, cruel or depraved; that they were committed in a cold, calculating manner; and two aggravators having to do with committing multiple serious offenses.

The trial is expected to last only two weeks.

Prosecutors will call detectives and medical examiners to the stand. And survivors of the victims will be allowed to address the jury.

Dieteman attorney Maria Schaffer also will present mitigating evidence, such as his upbringing, drug use and other life experience in an effort to persuade the jury to spare Dieteman's life.

If the jury opts for life over death, Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle will determine whether Dieteman serves natural life in prison for each murder, or if he will be eligible for parole after 25 years. Steinle also will sentence Dieteman on the conspiracy charge, which calls for 25 years to life in prison.


http://www.azcentral.com/community/a...teman0715.html

[Bailey]

by Michael Kiefer - Jul. 16, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

"A spiral into the depths of hell": That's what Samuel Dieteman's attorney called Dieteman's short life as a "Serial Shooter."

And May 2, 2006, the night that Dieteman shot and killed Claudia Gutierrez Cruz as she walked home from a bus stop in Scottsdale was "the beginning of three months of . . . living under the awful specter of Dale Hausner," the attorney said.

Dieteman has pleaded guilty to Cruz's murder and to the murder of Robin Blasnek three months later in Mesa.

On Wednesday, he faced the jury that will decide whether he should be executed for one or both of those killings, or whether he should spend the rest of his life in jail.

As a condition of his plea agreement, even if he cheats death by lethal injection, Dieteman will never be eligible for parole.

The Serial Shootings began in May 2005. By the time Dieteman and Hausner were arrested in their Mesa apartment in August 2006, 8 people had died, 17 more had been wounded - two of those stabbed - and 10 animals had been shot.

In March, Hausner was found guilty of 80 crimes, including six of the murders, largely on the basis of Dieteman's confession and testimony. It came out in trial that Hausner likely committed the 2005 crimes alone or with his brother. Dieteman did not even know Hausner until spring 2006, nearly a year after the shootings began.

But he confessed to a role in about 16 shootings, two stabbings and two arsons. Of those, he shot at five people, striking four and killing one. Hausner was convicted of fatally shooting Blasnek, but Dieteman still shares guilt as an accomplice to her murder.

In her opening remarks Wednesday, Dieteman's attorney, Maria Schaffer, painted a portrait of a damaged man who drank his way through the day and then smoked methamphetamine at night as he drove around the Valley with Hausner looking for people to shoot.

Schaffer talked about Dieteman's remorse, about how he confessed and then led police and prosecutors to crimes they weren't aware of, about how he testified against Hausner and helped send him to death row. He also testified against Hausner's brother Jeff, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Some of the facts seem to have changed as Schaffer tried to save her client's life.

For example, 15 minutes before Dieteman shot Cruz, Hausner shot a man at the corner of Van Buren and 44th streets in Phoenix.

In her remarks Wednesday, Schaffer said that Dieteman was "numb" and "reeling" when he witnessed that crime. However, last January, when he testified against Hausner, Dieteman said that the two men laughed at the shooting.

"It was kind of funny, as horrible as that sounds now," he said then.

But even prosecutor Vince Imbordino refused to lobby strongly for the death penalty against Dieteman.

In his opening statements, Imbordino told the jury that the death penalty is appropriate for Dieteman under Arizona law.

"I'm not arguing with you over what sentence he should get," Imbordino said. "Do you believe, individually and as a group, can a man buy his redemption? Can he redeem himself?"

Paul Patrick, whom Dieteman shot in June 2006 and who has suffered serious medical problems since, answered the question.

"I'd do it myself, if it was up to me, but it's not," he said. "He pretty much killed my future."

http://www.azcentral.com/community/a...teman0716.html

Related: http://www.crimeshots.com/forums/sho...t=Dale+Hausner

[Bailey]

by Amanda Lee Myers - Jul. 21, 2009 02:15 PM
Associated Press

Jurors mulling the death penalty for one of two men convicted in series of random shooting deaths that terrified Phoenix listened Tuesday to his letter to a victim, which said he apologized but would make "no cries for mercy."

Samuel Dieteman, 33, faces death or life in prison for his role in the so-called Serial Shooter attacks in 2005 and 2006, which left eight people dead and many more seriously injured. Dieteman pleaded guilty to two of the killings.

"I've taken lives, destroyed lives, caused unimaginable pain to people," Dieteman wrote to Paul Patrick, who nearly died when he was shot in the side while walking down the street in June 2006.

"No appeals, no cries for mercy," the letter continued. "As I have shown none, I deserve none ... I'm sickened by my own actions, by my own reflection in the mirror."

Dieteman was the key witness against co-defendant Dale Hausner, who was sentenced to six death sentences earlier this year for the random 14-month shooting spree.

The attacks and a second series of serial killings unnerved Phoenix as hundreds of investigators tried to crack the case. Prosecutors said Hausner preyed on pedestrians, bicyclists, dogs and horses during the 14-month conspiracy that occasionally included Dieteman.

Detective Clark Schwartzkopf, the lead Phoenix police investigator in the case, read the Jan. 9, 2009 letter as part of his testimony in the sentencing phase of the trial.

Patrick has become the face of all the victims in the attacks and attended every day of the trial Hausner's trial. In March, Patrick suffered a stroke, possibly as a result of the shotgun pellets still in his body. Although in a wheelchair and unable to speak above a whisper.

Schwartzkopf also testified that Dieteman was Hausner's follower and committed two of the eight killings in the case. He also said that Dietman was instrumental in Phoenix police's investigation.

Dieteman's attorney, Maria Schaffer, also asked Schwartzkopf to describe what life behind bars would mean for Dieteman, who is there as "one of the most notorious snitches" in Arizona's prison system.

Schwartzkopf said Dieteman will either be completely isolated from other inmates, or in danger if he's allowed to be around them.

Schaffer also described Dieteman as following Hausner, saying in opening statements that he was "living under the awful specter of Dale's influence."

Prosecutor Vince Imbordino tried to emphasize Dieteman's role in the crimes Tuesday in his questioning of Schwartzkopf, who said Dieteman abused alcohol and meth before he met Hausner and that Dieteman knew Hausner was committing killings before he himself joined in on the crimes.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...ings21-ON.html

[Bailey]

"I'm Sam Dieteman, obviously."

by Michael Kiefer - Jul. 27, 2009 07:01 PM
The Arizona Republic

That's how the convicted "Serial Shooter" on Monday introduced himself to the jury that will decide whether to sentence him to death or life in prison for two murders he committed in 2006.

And it was obvious. Dieteman has been on trial in Maricopa County Superior Court for nearly two weeks, and the 13 jurors have seen him sitting at the defense table as they listened to testimony from his victims, his mother and father, his 16- and 17-year-old daughters, friends and the police officers who investigated his crimes.

Now it was time to hear what Dieteman had to say.

He talked about his conversion to Judaism. He read a poem he had written to one of his daughters. He singled out one of his surviving victims as the strongest man he'd ever known. He talked about his accomplice, Dale Hausner.

Then he talked about shame. And he made no excuses.

"No, it wasn't Dale. It wasn't the drugs. It wasn't booze," he said. "It was me."

He didn't ask for mercy.

"I don't believe there is a punishment harsh enough for me," he said.

Hausner and Dieteman were arrested on August 3, 2006, after a 14-month-long Valley-wide shooting spree that left eight people dead and 17 wounded. Ten animals were shot, two men were stabbed, a Tempe bartending school was shot up and two Wal-Mart stores were set on fire. Many of the crimes were committed by Hausner or his brother Jeff before the two men met Dieteman in the spring of 2006.

Dieteman, 33, pleaded guilty to the May 2006 murder of Claudia Gutierrez Cruz, whom he shot as she walked from a bus stop in Scottsdale, and to being an accessory to the July 2006 murder of Robin Blasnek, whom Hausner shot as she walked near her parents' home in Mesa. Dieteman also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Many of Dieteman's charges were dropped in exchange for his testimony against the Hausner brothers. Dale was sentenced to death six times; Jeff was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Dieteman confessed to police shortly after he was arrested.

"By the time I got to the police station, I couldn't keep it bottled up," he said.

He'd already confessed to a friend - who in fact tipped off police. And Dieteman claimed he tried to call the Silent Witness hotline to turn himself in.

When he was arrested, Dieteman said, he was relieved, scared, but "glad it was over."

He had sleepwalked through the six months he knew the Hausner brothers, drinking night and day and smoking methamphetamine. He still can't explain why he did what he did or why he didn't stop Dale Hausner, Dieteman said.

But only when his head cleared after months in jail was he able to "admit that I was the one who actually did these things," and he "wanted to give closure to people I've taken just about everything from."

Dieteman said he read about Catholicism and studied Jehovah's Witnesses, before turning to Judaism, the religion of his mother's birth parents.

"It was like a homecoming," he said.

And he paraphrased from the teachings of Jewish law and ethics called the Talmud.

"To take one life, it's as if you've killed the whole world," he said. "There's no redemption from that."

When asked how he felt about Dale Hausner, he answered, "Mostly I feel sorry for the guy, because he just doesn't feel. And I wouldn't want to know what it's like to be alive and not feel."

The trial is expected to close today.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/a...teman0728.html

[Bailey]

On Wednesday morning, Samuel Dieteman wrote a letter to his attorney saying that he was going to be sentenced to death and that it wasn't her fault.

But instead, the jury chose life because Dieteman had been instrumental in putting his fellow "Serial Shooter," Dale Hausner, on Death Row for six murders. He also helped put Hausner's brother Jeff in prison for 25 years for two non-fatal stabbings.

Dieteman was allowed to talk to his jury before he was taken back to jail.

"He looked astonished," said juror Eric Pyles, 37, of Mesa.

Pyles noted that even though Dieteman had seldom looked up from the defense table during his two-week trial in Maricopa County Superior Court, "In that jury room, he never once looked down."

Phoenix police Sgt. Andy Hill called the verdict "the culmination of four years of suffering for dozens of victims and families."

Eight people died, 17 more were shot or stabbed and wounded during the 14-month Serial Shooter crime spree of 2005 and 2006. Ten animals were shot and two stores were set afire.

Dieteman took part only in the last three months of the attacks, killing one woman and wounding three other people. He pleaded guilty to a second murder because he was present when Hausner pulled the trigger. But a jury still had to determine whether he would be put to death.

Over the course of the two-week trial, jurors heard testimony from Dieteman's mother, father and daughters. His attorney, Maria Schaffer, painted a portrait of a damaged man who drank heavily and smoked methamphetamine as he drove around the Valley with Hausner looking for people to shoot.

Jurors said that at first, they were split between life and death, but then reasoned that life was appropriate.

As he stood before Judge Roland Steinle, Dieteman said, "I am truly sorry for the pain I have cost many, many people."

Steinle sentenced him to three consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole: two for the murders and one for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

"It's hollow," said Paul Patrick, who has been disabled since June 8, 2006, when Dieteman shot him as he walked to a convenience store.

Even prosecutor Vince Imbordino had mixed feelings.

"My feeling was, for what he did, he deserved the death penalty," Imbordino said. "What wasn't clear to me was whether testifying was enough to save his life."

The Serial Shooter crimes began in May 2005. Dale Hausner, possibly with his brother Jeff, cruised from Avondale to Mesa shooting people, horses and dogs from a car window with a shotgun or a .22-caliber rifle.

Dieteman did not become involved until February 2006, when he met Jeff Hausner. On May 2, 2006, Dale Hausner introduced him to murder during a late-night drive when he pulled out his shotgun and wounded a man in Phoenix. Minutes later, he handed the gun to Dieteman, who shot and killed Claudia Gutierrez Cruz, 21, as she walked from a bus stop in Scottsdale.

By the end of that July, Dieteman had taken part in 16 shootings, two stabbings and two arsons. He pulled the trigger five times, striking four people, including Gutierrez Cruz, who was the only person he killed.

But he was held accountable for the last of the Serial Shooter deaths, Robin Blasnek, 22, whom Hausner shot July 30, 2006.

The two men were arrested on Aug. 3, after police, acting on a tip, wiretapped their Mesa apartment.

During his testimony, Dieteman talked about the guilt he felt over the shootings - a guilt not borne out in the wiretap recordings, in which he brags about the crimes.

He pleaded guilty to the two murders and the conspiracy charge, and in exchange for testimony against the Hausners, other charges against him were dropped.

In March, Dale Hausner was found guilty of 80 crimes, including six of the murders, largely on the basis of Dieteman's testimony. He received six death sentences, two life sentences and hundreds of years in prison.

Jeff Hausner was not charged in any of the murders, but he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for two non-fatal stabbings.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/a...an0729-ON.html