Dale Hausner, shown left, listens in court on Tuesday as his suspected accomplice, Samuel Dieteman, accuses him of being the leader of the Serial Shooters duo. One of his attorneys, Tim Agan, is also shown. Pool photo.
Live from the courtroom: Dale Hausner despised the homeless. He disliked them so much that every time he and his newfound pal, Samuel Dieteman, would drive by someone they believed was homeless, Hausner would say, “Look at that piece of (expletive) over there.”
“Prostitutes are another one he had a problem with,” Dieteman testified just moments ago in Maricopa County Superior Court. Prosecutor Vince Imbordino asked Dieteman to tell about how he and Hausner chose their victims during their alleged 2006 killing spree, and the witness held back no details. The pair, he said, chose their victims based on who they thought fell into one of two categories: homeless and prostitutes.
Often though, if it was a woman, they wouldn’t distinguish between a regular pedestrian and, say, a prostitute, Dieteman said. “I don’t think it mattered, just that they were there,” Dieteman testified. “He (Hausner) would say, ‘Oh, look at this whore. She’s dead. We’re going to get her.'”
Once they targeted their victims, they would take turns pulling the trigger, Dieteman said. “Normally, depending on whose side of the vehicle they were on, that’s who shot them.”
Hausner has long maintained his innocence, and has blamed Dieteman for all of the shootings. Dieteman has already pleaded guilty to two murders and agreed to testify in Hausner’s trial as part of a bid to save himself from death row.