Archive for the 'Defense' Category
November 5th, 2008, 3:49 pm by Nick R. Martin
  Timothy Davenport said the only attacker he could identify from the night of his stabbing had a mustache and red hair. And the defense team has a problem with that. Dale Hausner, the man sitting in court today accused of the crime, is clean shaven and sporting arguably dirty blond hair. The jurors might have to squint hard to picture Hausner with either of the other characteristics.
It’s not so hard to imagine it, though, if you see the photos from the time of Hausner’s arrest. Take a look at his booking photo to the far right. It’s strikingly different than the image of Hausner in court last month. The booking photo distorts Hausner’s skin tone and hair color a little bit, but it shows him with a mustache and beard. Other photos from the time of his arrest show that Hausner’s hair was lighter and reddish in August 2006 when police arrested him and his confessed co-conspirator Samuel Dieteman.
Still, Hausner’s defense team attacked these differences this afternoon, quizzing Davenport about his attackers and how he identified Hausner as one of them. Davenport said he was able to see Hausner’s face for 6 seconds the night he was stabbed. He said Hausner pulled up in front of him one night while he was walking in a parking lot and asked if he was OK. That’s when “a dark figure,” who authorities have said was Jeff Hausner, Dale’s brother, came up behind Davenport and stabbed him multiple times.
Davenport admitted, however, that it was dark that night and he didn’t get a very good look at either man. “That night, the only light was coming from the streetlights themselves,” he testified. Hausner’s attorneys seized on this, trying to show that his identification of Hausner may not be reliable.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Dale Hausner • jeff hausner • phoenix • police • Serial Shooter • Witness | Post a Comment »
October 22nd, 2008, 10:22 am by Nick R. Martin
He rolled his eyes. He flailed his arms. He yelled. He cursed. He did everything but spit.
Defense attorney Ken Everett did his best Tuesday to try to discredit a key witness in the case against his client, Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner.
 In the end, the full-throated attack on witness John Kane appeared only to agitate the one man no attorney wants to upset - the judge.
“The questions are becoming repetitive,” Judge Roland Steinle warned Everett from the bench. “And nothing more than harassing.”
A day earlier, Kane, a former bartending instructor from Gilbert, testified that Hausner confessed to him about shooting an empty car in December 2005 in the parking lot of the Tempe bartending academy where they first met.
Kane told the jury that he and Hausner had become friends, and that Hausner thought he was doing his newfound pal a favor by shooting the car of a woman who recently filed a sexual harassment complaint against Kane.
The testimony was the first time anybody so far in the marathon trial directly tied Hausner to the Serial Shooter crime spree, which included eight murders and dozens of other shootings.
In court on Tuesday, Everett worked hard to debunk Kane’s story by forcefully and loudly attacking the man’s credibility.
Everett brought up Kane’s four prior felony convictions, his drug use and his alcoholism in an attempt to destroy his character. Then, he went after Kane’s motives for agreeing to testify.
He pointed out that Kane was arrested in April 2006 on drug and gun charges, and the testimony was part of an agreement he struck with prosecutors to get out of jail.
Along the way, the normally baritone voice of Everett grew ever stronger, and his attitude more critical, as he tried to show that not even he believed what Kane was saying.
Read full story…
Photo by pool photographer. Defense attorney Ken Everett questions a witness during the trial of Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Judge Steinle • attorneys • Dale Hausner • judge • Judge Steinle • phoenix • Serial Shooter • tempe | Post a Comment »
October 21st, 2008, 2:36 pm by Nick R. Martin
 Ken Everett continued to roll his eyes, yell expressions like “gee, John” and spew expletives throughout the cross examination of the first witness to implicate his client in one of the shootings.
“You told Dale, ‘That’s the (expletive)’s vehicle right there,’ didn’t you?” Everett said, grilling John Kane, the Gilbert man who said Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner confessed to shooting up a vehicle on Dec. 29, 2005.
Normally, Everett is aggressive and speaks at volumes above and beyond those of anyone else in the courtroom. But today, he has even crossed beyond his usual level in trying to discredit Kane.
The exclamations and cursing only come when he is quoting somebody else, but Everett doesn’t hold anything back.
This morning, Judge Roland Steinle told him to keep his voice down, but Everett has struggled to do so. This afternoon, Steinle asked the jury to leave the room so he could reprimand Everett once again. “You used other expressions to show that you clearly don’t believe what is being said out there,” Steinle told him, calling many of his questions “nothing more than harassing.”
In fact, Steinle told Everett to wrap up his questions with Kane, saying many of them were “becoming repetitive.” And, Steinle added, “You will stop rolling your eyes and other facial gestures.”
Photo by pool photographer. Dale Hausner’s attorney Ken Everett listens to testimony last week in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Judge Steinle • attorneys • Dale Hausner • gilbert • Serial Shooter • tempe | Post a Comment »
October 21st, 2008, 11:35 am by Nick R. Martin
John Kane, the Gilbert man who said Dale Hausner confessed a shooting to him, is facing a knock-down drag-out attack from the Hausner’s attorney this morning. Attorney Ken Everett has been pushing hard on Kane’s four prior felony convictions and the plea deal he made in exchange for testifying in the trial. The implication is that Kane’s testimony is not to be trusted.
As is Everett’s style, he’s loud and mad. And he’s pushing the envelope of what’s proper. In fact, Judge Roland Steinle just asked the jury to leave the room for a few moments so he could tell Everett to, well, chill out.
“Your questions are becoming argumentative and your tone is going way above,” Steinle said. He called some of Everett’s comments “totally inappropriate.”
“I’m asking you to lower your tone,” Steinle said.
Everett did not respond. But once the jury was brought back into the courtroom, he resumed his questioning at about half the volume.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Judge Steinle • attorneys • Dale Hausner • gilbert • Serial Shooter • tempe | Post a Comment »
October 20th, 2008, 2:55 pm by Nick R. Martin
During a break this afternoon, attorney Ken Everett complained to Judge Roland Steinle that today was at least the second time a young juror has been seen sleeping on the job. Everett said he even wanted to “ask that he be excluded right now” — lawyer speak for kicking him off the trial.
The 20-something man in the front row might be forgiven for having heavy eyelids, though, especially today. The room is a little warm and the air is stale. The testimony this afternoon is entirely from Maricopa County medical examiner Robert Lyon, who is going over detailed autopsies in which the most interesting info is a brief but intricate discussion on how lividity helps determine time of death. It’s dry stuff.
Steinle told Everett he wasn’t ready to yank the juror just yet. But, the judge said, if the man continues to nap, the court may revisit this issue sooner than later.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Jurors • Life in trial • attorneys • jury • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
October 20th, 2008, 1:08 pm by Nick R. Martin
Last Tuesday, I wrote about a brief blackout in the courtroom that happened just as testimony was getting underway for the day. Lights went out for about 30 seconds in the windowless courtroom, and guards fumbled with their flashlights to shine them on the defendant, Dale Hausner, who is accused of eight murders.
Now, Hausner is disputing the story. Standing in the courtroom during the lunch break today, Hausner was reading through a handful of newspaper stories printed since the start of the trial. Remember, prosecutors have called Hausner a “narcissist” because he reportedly cut out and saved dozens of newspaper clippings about the Serial Shooter killings while the they were ongoing. In the near-empty courtroom a few minutes ago, he read aloud part of my story published the day after the blackout. “About 30 second later, the lights came back on,” Hausner read. “All the jurors sighed with relief.” (Note: Hausner added a couple words for emphasis.)
“Come on!” Hausner said to his attorneys, apparently not knowing the writer was in the courtroom. “The lights were out for about seven seconds and when I looked over, all the jurors were fine.”
“Be careful,” his attorney Ken Everett said, “I think the reporter is right over there.”
Hausner looked back at the gallery, mumbled something, sat down and laid the story on the table. He read other stories silently to himself.
Photo by pool photographer. Hausner listens to testimony last week during his trial in Maricopa County Superior Court on eight murder charges.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Life in trial • attorneys • Dale Hausner • Serial Shooter | 2 Comments »
October 16th, 2008, 9:41 am by Nick R. Martin
Another juror conflict today means the trial of Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hauser is on hold until Monday. We will pick up coverage then. In the meantime, take a peek through the highlights of the first two weeks of the blog to get caught up with the case.
Highlights so far:
A contrast in styles: The lead prosecutor and defense attorney are worlds apart.
Hausner falls out of his chair: Strange moment. He rises unhurt.
Witness says police ignored his tips: Man says he was asked to stop helping.
Power outage, blackout in court: Guards quickly try to find Hausner.
Hausner may testify: A report says his attorney may put him on the stand.
Defense says ‘killer Sam’ did shootings: Blames Hausner’s former friend.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Life in trial • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • attorney • Dale Hausner • phoenix • police • Serial Shooter • tolleson • trial | Post a Comment »
October 15th, 2008, 2:54 pm by Nick R. Martin
I want to write a longer post about this at some point, but I’ll say something short about it now. The contrast between the two lead attorneys is startling.
Maricopa County prosecutor Vince Imbordino is about as dry as they come. But he’s effective. He builds his questions slowly and works from the outside and moves inward toward his target. He speaks in quiet tones and it’s sometimes hard to hear him from the back of the courtroom.
Defense attorney Ken Everett, on the other hand, is grand and boisterous. He takes subjects head-on and uses strong tones. He’s even loud, maybe too much so, when asking simple questions. Take yesterday, for instance, when he nearly shouted his first question at a witness: “Can you hear me, sir?” he barked. It was meant as a simple consideration, but it came across as a tad harsh. Still, the jury can hear him clearly, and in a trial like this, that might be an advantage.
Posted in: Defense • Prosecution • attorney • Serial Shooter • trial | Post a Comment »
|
|
