Dale Hausner, center, listens on Friday as a court clerk reads the jury’s decision that he should be put to death for six murder convictions. Pool photo
In the end, he did not fight it nor did he hardly even acknowledge it was happening. Dale Hausner was handed his death in multiples on Friday, sentenced to a punishment equal to each life he took from the world. The so-called Serial Shooter barely blinked as the judgement was read. Afterward, he simply thanked the judge, thanked the jury and was led quietly out of courtroom in handcuffs.
It’s hard to know what Hausner meant by his simple thank yous to the people who had just sent him to death row. Was it a sign of respect to the court? Gratitude for giving him the punishment he asked for a day earlier? Or was it meant as sarcasm to a group he thought had wronged him?
At least one woman had a theory about it afterward. “It was almost just like a game,” said Rebecca Estrada, whose son David was murdered by Hausner in June 2005. She spoke to a mob of reporters outside the downtown Phoenix courthouse immediately after the sentencing. “A game in court. No sincerity. No remorse.”
Indeed, Hausner was as unemotional on Friday as he ever was during his seven-month-long murder trial. He had no reaction on March 13, when a jury found him guilty on 80 crimes including six murders. And he reacted the same way when the jury told him on Tuesday he was eligible for the death penalty under Arizona law.
“It’s just a very pathetic situation,” Estrada said. “The whole nature of this is sadness.”
David Estrada was the earliest victim Hausner was convicted of killing. Hausner was also given the death penalty in the murders of Nathaniel Schoffner, Jose Ortis, Marco Carillo, Claudia Gutierrez-Cruz and Robin Blasnek, which all took place over the course of a year. During the trial, authorities proved that Hausner, sometimes alone and sometimes with the help of a friend, cruised the Valley at night in his silver four-door sedan, hunting down pedestrians or bicyclists who were on the streets by themselves.
The killing spree held the Phoenix area in fear, particularly during the summer of 2006, when authorities revealed another serial predator, known as the Baseline Killer, was also stalking random victims in the area. The suspect in that case, Mark Goudeau, is still awaiting trial on several murder charges but has since been convicted for a number of sexual assaults and is serving a sentence of more than 400 years in prison.
Hausner’s accomplice in many of the 2006 shootings, Samuel Dieteman, has pleaded guilty to two murders and a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. He testified against his former roommate during the trial as part of a plea deal to try to spare his life. He is expected to be sentenced later this year.
Despite the restrained mood of Friday’s events, Hausner’s sentence came as a relief to many of the people involved in the case. Rebecca Estrada told reporters she was “very much now at peace” after the ordeal.
“We hope that that this is some small consolation to the families of these murder victims,” Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said afterward. “Obviously,” he added,” there is nothing that will bring them back.”
Earlier in the week, Hausner waived the chance to present evidence to try to convince the jury to spare his life. In court on Thursday, Hausner said he did so “to help the victims heal.” He told jurors he disagreed with their decision to find him guilty — he never admitted that he killed or wounded anyone — but he was tired and wanted the trial to end.
For David Estrada’s mother, it was just part of Hausner’s game. “It’s all about the notoriety of being a serial killer,” she said. “That was his whole motive.”
The serial killer has one more day in court before his trial, which began back in September 2008, finally comes to an end. On Monday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Roland Steinle is expected to sentence Hausner to hundreds of years in prison for the 74 other violent crimes in which he was convicted.