Archive for the 'phoenix' Tag
December 3rd, 2008, 11:46 am by Nick R. Martin
In July 2006, the Valley was dealing with two sets of serial killers. One, the Baseline Killer was targeting and raping women in south Phoenix. The other, the Serial Shooters, were randomly shooting pedestrians in the east Phoenix area.
Because of the danger and tension gripping the Valley, Phoenix police, along with Silent Witness, set up tip lines and asked the public to help find these serial killers. On the witness stand this morning, Phoenix police detective Clark Schwartzkopf said that some 2,000 calls came in during a single two-day period in mid July.
Because of this, “there were a lot of mix ups between task forces,” Schwartzkopf said. Some of the tips intended for the Baseline Killer case were being routed to the Serial Shooter investigators and vice versa.
On top of it, there were a lot of off-the-wall calls that weren’t helping. “I had one person call and say they thought it was the Zodiac Killer, the infamous Bay Area serial killer,” the detective testified. “I had psychics. I had people with crystal balls. I had all kinds of people calling in to tell me who they thought it was.”
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Prosecution • Clark Schwartzkopf • phoenix • police • psychic • Silent Witness | Post a Comment »
December 3rd, 2008, 11:19 am by Nick R. Martin
A woman named Debbie Dryer testified briefly this morning about her relationship with Sam Dieteman, the confessed co-conspirator in the Serial Shooter killings. She met Dieteman in a west Phoenix bar called Pollock Joe’s where she often went with her lover, Ron Horton, who later became one of the key witnesses in the investigation. Her relationship with Dieteman was as an acquaintance. She and Horton would give him rides home from the bar sometimes, but they never quite knew exactly where he lived, only a general area where they would drop him off.
 Dryer’s testimony was brief, but it wasn’t supposed to be that way. Before she took the stand, Dale Hausner’s defense attorney, Ken Everett, got most of her testimony suppressed. Prosecutors were trying to have her testify about a conversation that she had with Dieteman (pictured) one night at the bar.
Prosecutor Vince Imbordino put it this way: “When she’s closing up a bar, Mr. Dieteman said, ‘There’s been a lot of shootings going on around here. A lot of them have not been on the news yet.’ Then he told her, ‘Keep watching the news.’”
However, the defense objected to this type of testimony, saying it was heresay. Judge Roland Steinle agreed. Dryer’s testimony could have been key to the case, yet it’s very likely the jury will never hear it.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Defense • Judge Steinle • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • Dale Hausner • phoenix • pollock joe's • ron horton • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
November 21st, 2008, 8:00 am by Nick R. Martin
 Prosecutors are nearing the end of the first segment of their case against Dale Hausner, the Mesa man accused of killing eight people and wounding numerous others in 2005 and 2006 in the Serial Shooter case.
In the past month and a half, jurors in a downtown Phoenix courtroom have been faced with dozens of mostly hard-luck victims who authorities say were Hausner’s targets.
Maricopa County prosecutors call it the “scenes” segment of their case. It gave them the opportunity to lay out the facts of every shooting, stabbing and arson they’ve attributed to the 35-year-old defendant.
The testimony was often emotional for jurors to hear, but it seemed to rarely damage Hausner.
So far, more than 100 witnesses have testified in the trial, but just three have been able to link Hausner to any of the incidents.
Read full story…
Tribune file photo. Dale Hausner speaks at a news conference shortly after his arrest in August 2006. Programming note: The trial is off until Dec. 1.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • attorneys • Dale Hausner • Mesa • phoenix • Serial Shooter • witnesses | Post a Comment »
November 20th, 2008, 11:27 am by Nick R. Martin
For a month and a half, the testimony in the trial of Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner has been a litany of victims, family members and first responders — the police and paramedics called out to the incidents as they happened. Prosecutors call it the “scenes” segment of the trial. It was their chance to document every shooting, stabbing and arson they’ve linked to the Mesa man in the defendant’s chair.
That segment of the trial is expected to end today. Prosecutors are bringing out their final witnesses laying out the 87 crimes attributed to Hausner. More than 100 witnesses have taken the stand so far. Only three of them have linked Hausner to any of the crimes or crime scenes:
- John Kane, a Gilbert man, testified that Hausner confessed to shooting up an empty car outside of a Tempe bartending school on Dec. 29, 2005. That shooting is believed to have kicked off the bloodiest night of the killing spree.
- Timothy Davenport testified that Hausner distracted him on May 17, 2006 so that another man could stab him from behind. He identified Hausner “100 percent” as one of the men who participated in the nearly fatal attack.
- Marianne Thone said that Hausner and his suspected co-conspirator Samuel Dieteman appraoched her outside the scene of her brother’s shooting on May 30, 2006 and told her they were looking for a lost cat.
Some of the final testimony will be in the shooting death of Robin Blasnek, who was killed while walking alone in Mesa on July 30, 2006. Blasnek is believed to be the final victim of the Serial Shooter.
After the Thanksgiving break next week, prosecutors will return with riveting testimony about how investigators began to track a serial killer and eventually came upon Dieteman, who has already confessed to two murders, and Hausner as the suspects. The evidence will include hours of secret recordings that police obtained of the two men reportedly discussing the crimes. The jury may get to hear the recordings by the first week of December.
Photo by pool photographer. Prosecutor Laura Reckart questions a witness while defendant Dale Hausner looks on in the background.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Samuel Dieteman • Dale Hausner • gilbert • Mesa • phoenix • police • Samuel Dieteman • Serial Shooter • shooting • tempe • victims • witnesses | Post a Comment »
November 18th, 2008, 3:31 pm by Nick R. Martin
 It has been almost a month since a young juror in the front row was caught napping and told to stay awake. He denied he was sleeping, but still promised to load himself up with “a couple Red Bulls” to remain alert during testimony. Well, according to defense attorney Ken Everett, it hasn’t been enough.
This afternoon, while the jury was out of the room on a short break, Everett complained to Judge Roland Steinle that the young man was again seen with his eyes closed and appeared to be snoozing during testimony. Steinle said he would keep an eye on it for the rest of the day. When the man came back into the room after the break, he was carrying a bottle of Mountain Dew.
Photo used under free distribution licensing from Wikimedia Commons.
Posted in: Defense • Judge Steinle • Jurors • Life in trial • Dale Hausner • Judge Steinle • Jurors • phoenix • red bull • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
November 18th, 2008, 12:05 pm by Nick R. Martin
The car pulled up slowly, almost to a stop. Walking in the dark along Van Buren Street in Phoenix, Gary Begay turned to look at it. A moment later, he saw a flash of light from inside the car. It lit up the face of the driver. “I just saw somebody with dark hair and pale face, and that’s all I remember,” Begay testified this morning. He soon realized he had been hit by something. He reached to the left side of his chest and felt blood.
Begay was the fourth victim to testify in two days here at the trial of Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner, which is taking place in a downtown Phoenix courtroom. Begay said he didn’t get a good look at the driver beyond the short description, but he talked about being hit and trying to run for help. “I just lost it, I thought, did I get shot or what’s happening?” he said.
Begay was making the half-hour walk home on July 8, 2006 from his job at a 7-11 convenience store. It was a straight shot down Van Buren from his job to his apartment, but Begay said he was a little nervous walking alone sometime after 2 a.m. His sister-in-law had called him earlier to see if he needed a ride home that morning, but he turned it down. “I told her I’d be fine,” Begay said, “because I’d done it before and nothing happened.”
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Dale Hausner • gary begay • phoenix • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
November 17th, 2008, 2:22 pm by Nick R. Martin
 Joseph Roberts was tired and just wanted to get home. His bicycle had a flat tire, and so he was pushing it along Indian School Road, making his way through the middle of Phoenix from his cousin’s house to his own. It was early in the morning, and being July 3, 2006, it was still hot.
Then, at about 26th Street, something happened to Roberts that had happened to several others in the previous months. “I just got shot out of nowhere,” the 21-year-old testified this afternoon. “I felt my stomach and I was bleeding.”
Roberts saw a silver four-door car pulling quickly away from him, but he couldn’t make out who was inside. He said he didn’t know whether it had anything to do with the shooting.
The young man spent a week in the hospital while doctors surgically removed some of the shotgun pellets and about a third of his stomach.
Physically, Roberts appeared almost fully recovered on the stand. Prosecutor Vince Imbordino asked him if he had any long-lasting repercussions from the shooting, but Roberts said he didn’t know how to answer that. He was timid on the stand, and had a tough time answering many of the questions. The questions he did answer, however, gave a clear picture of his injury.
Map shows the area where Joseph Roberts was shot on July 3, 2006. Click here for a larger map.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • Dale Hausner • joseph roberts • phoenix • Serial Shooter | Post a Comment »
November 17th, 2008, 1:50 pm by Nick R. Martin
 Beyond the live blogging and twittering you’ll find here, KTVK-TV (Channel 3) has a live video feed of the Dale Hausner trial on its Web site. The feed is only on whenever the trial is in session, and from what I can tell, there are sometimes connection difficulties. But it’s another way to watch the eight-count murder trial of the Mesa man accused of being the Serial Shooter.
Currently, a man named Joseph Roberts is on the stand talking about the time he was shot on July 3, 2006 in Phoenix. Like many of the victims, he was walking alone at night when he was hit with a shotgun blast. Doctors later had to remove a third of his stomach, and he spent a week in a local hospital. Now 21 years old, Roberts is timid on the stand, but his testimony remains vivid and painful.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Life in trial • joseph roberts • phoenix • Serial Shooter | 1 Comment »
November 13th, 2008, 3:18 pm by Nick R. Martin
Tony Long heard a gunshot and began running. He didn’t know where it came from, but he didn’t care to find out. He just took off. Then he looked down.
“I didn’t feel nothing at first,” Long testified in court this afternoon. “But then I looked and I saw blood on my shirt and stuff, and I knew I had been shot.”
It was the early morning June 20, 2006, and Long was walking along 44th Street just south of Van Buren Street when he was hit on his left side with a number of shotgun pellets. He had just come from a friend’s house where they had been drinking beer and hanging out.
Two or three men came to help Long get to a nearby Circle K gas station and called 911. He was hurt pretty badly, but it turned out later he was one of the lesser injured victims of the Serial Shooters. He spent just two days in a local hospital before being released. On the stand today, he appeared healthy and recovered. Of course, though, there’s no way to really know.
Map shows the area where Tony Long was shot the night of June 20, 2006. Click here for a larger, interactive map.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Prosecution • circle k • Dale Hausner • phoenix • Serial Shooter • shooting • tony long | 1 Comment »
November 13th, 2008, 11:24 am by Nick R. Martin
He is the only witness to be in court watching the proceedings every day since the trial began. Today, Paul Patrick got his chance to testify.
Patrick was shot on the night of June 8, 2006 while walking near an auto repair shop at 78th Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoeix. “I heard a loud bang and felt a great deal of pain,” Patrick testified this morning. “I spun around and hit the ground hard — on my belly.”
On its own, Patrick’s testimony does not stand out among the dozens of crimes authorities have tied to Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner, who is on trial for the crime spree. Like many of the other victims, he was alone. It was nighttime. He was walking on the side of the street on his way to nowhere in particular.
But the 48-year-old Patrick could prove to be a compelling figure for the jury. Day after day, he comes into the courtroom with the help of a motorized wheelchair. He can walk, but he hobbles when he does so. It’s painful to stand or walk, he testified. He also comes to the sixth-floor courtroom every day with his mother at his side. Together, they sit stoically in the first row, just behind the prosecutors. They listen to the testimony of others, as they have done with nearly 80 witnesses in the trial so far, and they sometimes nod because they can relate.
“I was in intensive care for 19 straight days,” Patrick said on the stand. “Then I was transfered for St. Luke’s (Hospital) for another three weeks or a month. I can’t remember.” He had multiple surgeries in the months following his shooting, including the removal of most of his colon.
Before today, none of the jurors knew why Patrick was in the courtroom every day. After today, he will be a constant reminder of the pain caused by the 14-month string of shootings.
Map shows the location where Paul Patrick was shot the night of June 8, 2006. Click here for a larger, interactive map.
Note: This post originally said Patrick was 36 years old. He is, in fact, 48.
Posted in: Dale Hausner • Jurors • Prosecution • Dale Hausner • paul patrick • phoenix • Serial Shooter • shotgun | Post a Comment »
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