Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner watches in October as the eight-count murder trial against him begins. Pool photo
Live from the courtroom: The jury had a lot of questions after nearly five days of testimony by Samuel Dieteman in the trial of Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner. Luckily for them, Maricopa County is one of the rare places in the U.S. where they get to ask them. Jurors scribbled their questions on sheets of paper and handed them to the judge, who then worked with the attorneys to determine which ones were allowed under the rules of the trial.
Many, it turns out, wanted to know what the rest of us have been wondering for years: Why would anyone participate in a killing spree like this? The judge asked Dieteman that very question on behalf of the jury: “Would you explain to the jury in your own words what was your motivation to go with Dale Hausner on these shootings?”
“A lot of times it didn’t start out that we were going out to do these shootings,” Dieteman said. “It would be Dale calling to say, ‘Hey, I’m coming to pick you up to go out for dinner’ or whatever…It would be later on that night that we would drive around and someone would get shot.”
He was asked for more information about his own personal motivations, and he continued. “I Just got used to being in fights, and seeing violent acts,” Dieteman said. “When they (Hausner and his brother, Jeff) committed an act in front of me, I felt I had to to prove myself…and it escalated into the shootings.
“I don’t know what the hell was wrong with me.”
Other juror questions and Dieteman’s answers
Q: Does the medication you’re receiving in jail affect your ability to determine right from wrong?
A: No, it doesn’t.
Q: When did you start taking medication?
A: March 2007
Q: While you were staying at Dale’s apartment, did Dale ever stay at someone else’s?
A: No
Q: If Dale and Jeff were doing the .22 (caliber) shootings (which allegedly took place in 2005), why did he (Jeff) not go with you after you moved in with Dale and do the shotgun shootings?
A: He quit hanging around with us sometime after the middle of May because he got a job working at the homeowner’s association…Jeff had to get sleep for work, so he just quit going out with us.
Q: Do you consider yourself a tough guy, or do you consider yourself a follower?
A: I would say a follower. I tried to think of myself as a tough guy for a few years and I tried to be that.
Q: Why didn’t you call Silent Witness again?
I don’t know why I didn’t call them before or again after that. (The night I did call) was one of my few clear-headed nights. The defendant was asleep for the night and I went out for a walk and decided, I want to end this crap. It just never came up after that.