Defense attorney Ken Everett questions a witness in the opening days of the trial of his client, Serial Shooter suspect Dale Hausner. Everett was fined today by Judge Roland Steinle. Pool photo
Live from the courtroom: Joetta Gonzales, one of the key witnesses in Dale Hausner’s defense, just admitted to discussing her testimony with another witness in the case, a violation of one of the big rules of the trial.
Gonzales testified this morning that her friend, Samuel Dieteman, talked to her about shooting a bicycle rider with somebody besides Hausner. The testimony would support the defense team’s theory that Dieteman, who has confessed to two murders and numerous other shootings, was the Serial Shooter and that Hausner had nothing to do with it.
However, prosecutor Laura Reckart revealed to the judge just minutes ago that she spotted Gonzales having an “animated” conversation with another witness in the case who also testified this morning named Mike Lee. When Reckart asked Gonzales if the two had discussed the case, she said they had. This ignited the anger of Judge Roland Steinle, who immediately asked the jury to leave the room.
“Tell us what you discussed with Mr. Lee,” Steinle told the witness.
“I told him the questions that I was asked,” she said.
“Did you tell him your answers?”
“Yes.”
One of the rules the judge put in place before the trial was called the “rule of exclusion,” which basically says that witnesses are not allowed to watch any part of the trial before they testify and are also not allowed to talk about the trial with any other witnesses. The rule is meant to keep witnesses from comparing notes and changing their testimony.
Steinle said both the prosecution and defense were supposed to tell their witnesses about the rule. When he asked Hausner’s attorney, Ken Everett, whether his witnesses had been warned about the rule, Everett said they had not.
Reckart asked for Gonzales’ entire testimony to be thrown out because “there’s just really no way for us to know what was discussed.” Steinle sounded angry enough that he may have been close to doing it. However, he paused and asked the other witness to come back to the courtroom and give more details about the lunchtime discussions.
When Lee was questioned by the judge, his account of the conversation was far different than Gonzales’. He said they talked about his testimony, not hers. However, he said they talked in detail about his testimony and he told her “pretty much every word that was said when I was up here” on the witness stand.
“Now I have two different versions,” Steinle said. “Quite frankly, we have two people who violated the rule.”
Ultimately, Steinle decided not to throw out Gonzales’ testimony because she had not been told about the rule in advance. Instead, he said he was going to fine Hausner’s attorney, Everett, for the blunder. “The amount of the sanction will be decided at the end of the day’s testimony,” Steinle said. The money will be donated to a charity of Everett’s choice, he said.
The exchange marked some of the biggest fireworks the trial has seen in quite some time, perhaps since its beginning. Had the testimony been thrown out, it may have crippled Hausner’s defense completely. Now, the problems surrounding the testimony may have only just injured it.
Hausner gets an earful, too
As all of this was going on, Dale Hausner put his head down on the defendant’s table. Steinle saw this and took an even sharper tone. “Is your client ill or is he just disrespecting me?” the judge asked Hausner’s attorneys, who said the suspect has been sick recently. Hausner apologized and said it won’t happen again.