Heat City

Dale Hausner

Live from the courtroom: In the final hours of his testimony, Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner has been laying out all sorts of alternate theories for the mounds of evidence against him.

The gunshot residue found inside his car? “When we would go shooting in the desert, we would be close to the car,” Hausner said. He speculated that when he turned on the air conditioner in his car, the residue was sucked into the ventilation system and ended up coating parts of the inside of his car. Either that, Hausner said, “or Mr. (Samuel) Dieteman, without my knowledge, used my car to gun down Raul Garcia and Robin Blasnek.”

“Those are the only two ways I can think of that that would happen,” he said.

Hausner is being questioned by his lead attorney, Ken Everett, and continues to vehemently deny any involvement in the 87 crimes of which he is accused.

Dale Hausner

Live from the courtroom: Judge Roland Steinle has given prosecutors a deadline of the end of the day to finish their questioning of Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner. The suspect has been on the witness stand for five days total, with three of them spent under intense scrutiny from prosecutor Vince Imbordino, who has been trying constantly to expose Hausner as a liar.

Earlier today, the judge said three days is enough. Imbordino was ordered to finish up by 4 p.m. because Steinle said he believes no new ground is being covered. “I’m just giving you notice right now that you need to move it along because I’m not going to give you more time tomorrow,” Steinle said from the bench.

Since then, Hausner has appeared to be stalling with many of his answers. For example, when Imbordino was asking about what Hausner was doing on the night of June 20, 2006 when Frederic Cena and Tony Long were shot, Hausner asked to take a look at a day planner he says he kept during that time. Hausner studied the notebook for a few moments, then said, “Nothing’s in my day planner.”

Like this post? Subscribe to Heat City’s RSS feed.

He then asked to look through his cell phone records. He looked at those for a few moments as well, then announced that he had received a call on his cell phone, which he said he took at his home in Mesa, about the time one of the shootings was taking place.

Dale Hausner

Live from the courtroom: On the witness stand this morning, Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner said he believes his former roommate and alleged accomplice, Samuel Dieteman, had “planted” incriminating evidence in this car before their arrest.

Earlier in the trial, a ballistics expert testified that a spent .22 caliber shell casing was found in the back seat of Hausner’s car, and the markings on the casing matched those found at a number of the 2005 shooting scenes.

“How did that get in your back seat?” asked prosecutor Vince Imbordino.

Maricopa County prosecutor Vince Imbordino questions Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner last week. Photo by Julio Jimenez

Live from the courtroom: Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner took the stand this morning for his fifth day of testimony, telling jurors that even if he had no alibi on the nights of the crimes, “the truth” would prove he was innocent.

Maricopa County prosecutor Vince Imbordino has been spending the morning asking Hausner about the early crimes in the Serial Shooter case, trying to establish the his whereabouts during each of the crimes. On many of the occasions, Hausner said his own, handwritten calendar showed he was spending the night with a woman named Marianne Lescher, a principal in the Kyrene School District. The crimes were taking place in Phoenix while Hausner says he was staying the night in Gilbert.

Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner cringes as he testifies in his own defense earlier this week in Phoenix. Pool photo

During four days on the witness stand, Dale Hausner has worked to fulfill at least one of the major promises his legal team made as far back as early October: They would blame Samuel Dieteman for the Serial Shooter crimes.

Dieteman lived with Hausner for several weeks in the summer of 2006. And last month, Dieteman took the stand against his former roommate, telling the jury the two of them spent many nights that summer cruising the Phoenix valley in Hausner’s four-door sedan, shooting numerous people at random. The testimony was detailed and damning, but only if you believe Dieteman, who admitted to often being heavily doped up on methamphetamine and Jack Daniels around the time of the shootings.

The central building of the Maricopa County Superior Court was evacuated today during testimony by Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner. Photo by Nick R. Martin

Live from the courtroom: We heard an encore performance this afternoon of the courthouse emergency evacuation system. Right in the middle of Dale Hausner’s testimony, a message came blaring through the loudspeakers: “Attention please, an emergency has been reported in this building.” The courtroom was emptied, with the attorneys and spectators being asked to wait in the hallway outside the courtroom (where I’m writing from now) and jurors and Hausner led out separate side doors.

As loyal readers of HEAT CITY may remember, something nearly identical happened during the testimony of Hausner’s alleged accomplice, Samuel Dieteman. In the midst of his testimony last month, a fire alarm was set off somewhere in the downtown Phoenix courthouse, and the whole building was emptied.