1 of 2 suspects pleads guilty in series of Phoenix-area shootings that killed 7, wounded 17

One of two suspects charged in a series of random shootings that killed seven people in the Phoenix area pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of first-degree murder.

Samuel Dieteman also agreed to testify against his co-defendant, a move that may keep him from being executed.

Authorities say Dieteman, 32, and his former roommate Dale Hausner, 35, randomly shot and killed seven people, wounded 17 more and killed several animals during a rampage that continued for several months over 2005 and 2006. It was one of two serial murder cases that sent fear through Phoenix and its surrounding suburbs at the same time.

Hausner has pleaded not guilty to seven murder counts and faces the death penalty if convicted.

Dieteman, who also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder, will be sentenced to death or to life in prison without parole.

The plea agreement "ensures that Samuel Dieteman never again will walk the streets a free man," Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said.

According to the plea agreement, the penalty phase for Dieteman's case won't be held until after Hausner's trial, which now is scheduled to begin in early September. The agreement says Dieteman's testimony will be considered a mitigating factor when his own sentence is decided.

"The agreement between our client, Samuel Dieteman, and the state of Arizona was made in good faith with all parties of the agreement acting in the interest of justice," said Robert Briney, the Maricopa County legal defender.

"It's hard to say much that's good about a serial shooter case, but this is probably as good a day as could be," Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon said. Dieteman "terrorized this community and now will never be free again to do that," he said.

Defense lawyer Maria Schaffer said that during his plea, Dieteman said he fatally shot Claudia Gutierrez-Cruz, 20, in Scottsdale on May 2, 2006, and assisted in the shooting of Robin Blasnek, 22, on July 30, 2006, as she walked from her parents' home to her boyfriend's house in Mesa.

Gutierrez-Cruz had been walking home from a bus stop when she was wounded. A passer-by found her crawling in the street saying "Help me" in Spanish.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dropped 50 criminal counts, including arson and attempted murder charges.

Hausner's lawyer, Ken Everett, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Prosecutors likely will rely on Dieteman, especially because another key witness, Ron Horton, died in January.

Horton led police to the two men and said he heard Dieteman boast about shooting people in what he called "RRVing" — random recreational violence.

Dieteman and Hausner were arrested in 2006 as part of the Phoenix Police Department's "Serial Shooters" investigation. Investigators found firearms in Mesa apartment they shared, news clippings of the Serial Shooter investigation and a map of the city marked with what police said are locations of some of their attacks.

Prosecutors had charged Dieteman and Hausner with attacks from May to July 2006. Hausner is charged separately in a longer string of shootings dating to May 2005.

Another assailant dubbed the "Baseline Killer" is thought to have slain eight women and a man in a series of 23 attacks that began in 2005.

Mark Goudeau, arrested within a month of Dieteman and Hausner's arrests, has been convicted of 19 counts stemming from the sexual assaults of two sisters and sentenced to 438 years in prison. The attacks were among those attributed to the Baseline Killer.

Goudeau still faces trial on other criminal charges, including nine murder counts, and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty.