Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner on Wednesday defends himself against charges that he murdered eight people and wounded at least 17 others. Photo by Julio Jimenez
A defiant Dale Hausner spent yesterday locked in a heated battle with prosecutors over truth, lies and sexuality as he defended himself against 87 criminal charges that include, assault, arson and eight counts of murder. It was the first time prosecutors had a chance to question the Serial Shooter suspect about the crimes, which Hausner continued to deny having any role in.
Hausner was obviously upset by a number of the earliest questions asked by Maricopa County prosecutor Vince Imbordino, and he sometimes tried to wrestle control of day away from his inquisitor. At one point early on, Hausner told Imbordino he didn’t like the way he was being quizzed, that some of the prosecutor’s lines sounded more like statements than questions. “Well, it’s my cross examination,” Imbordino shot back.
Indeed it was. Imbordino dropped several bombshells, which he and a team of police and prosecutors had collected over the course of more than two years of digging. Chief among them was the surprise accusation that Hausner had some sort of blossoming love interest in Samuel Dieteman, his former roommate who has confessed to being with Hausner for two of the murders and a number of the other shootings.
Imbordino confronted Hausner with a series of sexually explicit text messages sent between the two suspects. In one, Hausner asked Dieteman to pick up flavored condoms while he was shopping. In another, he described Dieteman as a “romantic fool.”
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“In fact, that’s one of the reasons that you let Mr. Dieteman stay in your apartment,” Imbordino said. “Because you were interested in him, weren’t you?” Hausner denied it vehemently, looking uncomfortable and agitated on the witness stand. The prosecutor continued. “Whenever he would leave you, even for a second, and walk out the front door, he would get a text from you: ‘Where are you Sam?'”
Imbordino also reached back several years into Hausner’s life to a time when he supposedly told his former wife he was bisexual. The wife, Karen Hausner, apparently brought up the statement sometime later when the two were going through an ugly divorce. On the witness stand, Hausner repeatedly said the claims of his bisexuality were “slander.” Red faced and irritated, he often tried to cut the prosecutor off mid-sentence to defend himself. He insisted “I like women, and I like a lot of them.” It was a line he repeated through the rest of the day.
While Hausner’s sexuality has little to do with the criminal accusations against him, Imbordino used the questions effectively to throw the defendant off his game and show the jury the angrier side of the prime suspect in the 14-month killing spree. And it was Hausner himself who opened the door to the questions during his previous two days of testimony when he repeatedly said with disgust that his alleged accomplice Dieteman was bisexual. He made numerous comments about not wanting to expose his young daughter, who occasionally stayed at his Mesa apartment, to Dieteman’s “trysts,” as he called them. He also repeatedly said the thought of two men kissing made him sick. Hausner’s attorneys initially tried to object to the prosecutor bringing up their client’s sexuality, but Judge Roland Steinle told them their client who brought it up in the first place.
‘I absolutely lied’
Most of yesterday’s questions, however, were all about credibility.
Imbordino used the the afternoon to point out lie after lie that Hausner has told over the years. From police to journalists to former girlfriends, Hausner admitted lying to people time and again to protect his image. For prosecutors, the goal was to whittle away any credibility that Hausner might have with the jury.
In one instance, Hausner admitted lying to an East Valley Tribune reporter during a 2006 phone interview from jail after his arrest. Hausner told the journalist he had never heard about a note that he now admits to writing himself. “I absolutely lied to a reporter, sir. Yes I did,” Hausner said, adding later: “I lied so that I would not give you guys the opportunity to twist what I said in court.”
In another instance, Hausner said he frequently lied to his boss to get extra time off work. Hausner worked for more than seven years as a janitor at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. “So you misrepresented yourself to your employer?” asked Imbordino.
“Yes, sir,” Hausner responded. “I did on numerous occasions.”
It’s not clear what effect Hausner’s testimony is having on the jury. However, the 20 members could be seen paying more attention to the drama playing out in front of them yesterday than at any other time during the previous four months of testimony.
Imbordino’s questioning of Hausner continues today in the downtown Phoenix courtroom, and his testimony is expected to stretch into next week.