Shooting Suspect's Brother Sentenced

PHOENIX - The brother of a man accused in a serial killing case was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in prison for stabbing a homeless man.

Jeff Hausner, 40, received the sentence for his guilty plea to aggravated assault. Under terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors, an attempted murder charge was dropped.

"I made a very bad spur-of-the-moment decision," Hausner said at a court hearing. "I'm not some kind of monster."

Hausner is the brother of one of two men charged in a 14-month Phoenix shooting spree that wounded at least 17 people and left seven others dead, according to police.

His brother, Dale, is charged with seven counts of murder. Jeff Hausner's former roommate, Samuel Dieteman, is charged with two of the killings.

Police say Jeff Hausner was with Dieteman on April 14, 2006, when he attacked a homeless man outside a supermarket. When the man asked Hausner for money, Jeff Hausner turned around and stabbed him in the stomach, authorities said.

The man has since recovered from his injuries.

Judge Andrew Klein could have sentenced Hausner to almost nine years in prison. But the judge said that family members who asked for mercy and Hausner's lack of a violent criminal history persuaded him to impose a shorter sentence.

Family members said that Jeff Hausner was known for bringing vagrants and stray dogs into his home. One of those people was Dieteman, who lived with him for several months in 2005 and 2006.

Police initially said that the stabbing Jeff Hausner was charged with committing was linked to the same string of attacks, but prosecutors later decided he was acting alone.