Convicted killer resigned himself to death penalty

[March 28, 2009]  PHOENIX (AP) -- Even before a jury handed him a half dozen death sentences Friday, a former janitor who was convicted of killing six people in metro Phoenix's Serial Shooter attacks had already resigned himself to the worst of fates.

The day before he received the death sentences, Dale Hausner decided against calling witnesses in a bid for leniency, instructed his attorneys not to plead for a life sentence and apologized to the families of every victim in the attacks, saying he should be put to death because it would help them heal.

"It's justice as much as it can be," said Rebecca Estrada, whose 20-year-old son, David Estrada, was one of the people Hausner was convicted of murdering. "The death penalty is the limit, and that's what he deserves."

Though the death penalties essentially closed a central chapter in the Serial Shooter case, Hausner is expected to face a prison sentence of several hundred years when he is punished Monday for attacking 19 other people.

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.

After Dale Hausner is sentenced Monday on the six dozen other convictions against him, the case's focus will shift to Dieteman, who pleaded guilty to two of the killings and could face the death penalty. Dieteman's sentencing trial is set for May 26.

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.

As the star prosecution witness at Hausner's trial, Dieteman said he and his roommate cruised around late at night looking for strangers to shoot and, in one case, found humor at the sight of one of their seriously injured victims holding his stomach and appearing angry.

Dieteman also 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's lawyers told jurors that Dieteman gave authorities bad information in hopes of getting out of the death penalty.

Even though Hausner has denied any involvement in the attacks since his arrest in August 2006, he took an odd turn during the penalty phase of his trial when he apologized to the families of every victim in the attacks.

"I'm not up here to point the finger at anybody else and say, 'Have mercy on my poor and withered soul,'" Hausner told the jury on Thursday. "I'm willing to accept my punishment like a man without blaming anybody."

Hausner had, in fact, suggested in the past that Dieteman may have carried out some of the attacks.

As the jury's decisions were announced, Hausner 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.

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 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.

---

Associated Press writer Terry Tang contributed to this report.

[Associated Press; By JACQUES BILLEAUD]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.