A judge has appointed a Phoenix-area psychiatrist to examine a convicted serial killer who has asked to be executed quickly.
Judge Roland Steinle of Maricopa County Superior Court appointed Dr. Gwen Levitt is to conduct a mental competency examination of Dale Hausner.
He was sentenced to death for six murders that were among random shootings that terrorized the Phoenix area in 2005 and 2006.
Steinle says Levitt will determine whether Hausner is competent to skip further appeals.
A similar review found he was competent to be sentenced.
The Arizona Supreme Court decided Hausner's one automatic appeal by upholding his convictions and sentences.
Hausner didn't acknowledge guilt during his trial, but he said before being sentenced that death should be his penalty to help the surviving victims and victims' relatives heal.
mikedurham posted at 9:18 pm on Fri, Nov 30, 2012.
As much as I empathize with vofreason, I sincerely hope that Judge Steinle considers that Hausner may be hiding information on other murders. Judge Steinle has no qualms about holding offenders accountable. Hausner needs to be held accountable and not allowed to commit suicide to continue to evade justice.
VofReason posted at 12:30 pm on Fri, Nov 30, 2012.
Stories like this are why many have lost hope in the justice system. First, despite overwhelming evidence of a crime, slimey lawyers get guilty clients off with a handslap. Then when you convict actual criminals you get crazy people who hold vigils to save their lives from the death penalty. And now the coup de grace, a criminal with overwhelming evidence, convicted of plucking off people randomly for thrills that says he should be executed and the justice system wants to make sure he isn't crazy. Newsflash, only crazy people shoot people randomly for thrills and deserve to die when they are caught.