Baseline Killer, Mark Goudeau, Awaits Trial and Possible Death Penalty

**Rawrehz** · August 4th, 2010, 02:19 PM

Mark Goudeau, the man police and prosecutors think is the "Baseline Killer," doesn't go on trial until November.

But his case was in court Monday and Tuesday as a judge considers whether there is probable cause to seek the death penalty against him.

Goudeau did not attend the hearings.

In court testimony Tuesday, new details emerged about the nine slayings and other crimes committed in 2005 and 2006 by the so-called Baseline Killer.

All were linked by ballistics. And the method of operation was remarkably similar, both in the killings and in sexual assaults where the victims survived.

The women were forced to undress. If they cooperated, they lived. If they didn't cooperate, they were shot in the head at close range.

And the stories of the survivors seem to give insight into what happened to the dead - eight women and one man who got in the way.

Goudeau knew one of the women, and his DNA was found on her body. Blood and DNA and personal belongings from others were found in Goudeau's home. All of the women's bodies were found in early stages of undress, as if they had refused to go further.

"Mark Goudeau was extremely consistent in his crimes," said prosecutor Suzanne Cohen.

Goudeau, 46, faces 74 counts, including multiple robberies and sexual assaults.

He has already been sentenced to 438 years in prison for 19 charges relating to a September 2005 sexual attack on two sisters in Phoenix, another case that fits the method of the Baseline Killer files.

In order to seek the death penalty, however, prosecutors must prove that there are aggravating factors that call for the harshest punishment. Early on in the case, they file a notice of intent to seek the death penalty and cite possible aggravators from a list set out in state statutes.

On Monday, Judge Warren Granville of Maricopa County Superior Court determined that there was probable cause for three aggravating factors in all of the murder cases should Goudeau be found guilty:

• That Goudeau has been convicted of another offense. In addition to the sexual assaults, he served time in prison for aggravated assault and armed robbery.

• That he committed multiple offenses.

• That he committed the crimes while on parole.

On Tuesday, the court heard testimony on two other potential aggravators: that more than one murder occurred and that the murders were especially cruel.

Granville has not yet ruled on those matters.

If Goudeau is convicted, prosecutors will have to prove the aggravators to a jury. Only one is required to impose a death sentence.

Former Phoenix police Detective Alex Femenia took the stand Tuesday to describe the crimes.

They took place in a square mile of central Phoenix bordered by Thomas and Indian School Roads and 24th and 32nd Streets - Goudeau lived in that neighborhood - or along a miles-long stretch of Baseline Road.

Most of the dead women were found with their pants unzipped or pulled slightly down and with bullets in their heads. One was found dead in her bathtub, another hidden between a house and a storage container.

Police were also able to determine how the killer operated because of a woman who got away. She was forced to undress, and when she refused to cooperate, her assailant pointed his gun at her and pulled the trigger, but it misfired.

That very same evening, the Baseline Killer claimed his last victim, a woman snatched at a car wash and then found dead in her car behind a nearby building.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...#ixzz0vf8fEA1i

nasty fucker..

**Rawrehz** · August 4th, 2010, 02:24 PM

Mark Goudeau may be a model citizen living in a house on a tree-lined street with a wife of nearly 20 years and a steady job.

Or he may be a rapist, maybe even a killer, who never escaped his violent past.

2006 article:

http://www.azcentral.com/specials/sp...10.html?&wired

**CplPunishment** · August 4th, 2010, 02:38 PM

You just never know who a person really is. I guess it's why my wife keeps tabs. Can't say I blame her much.

**Rhoni** · August 4th, 2010, 10:44 PM

I remember this from when I was living in Az..

**Whisper** · October 18th, 2011, 02:44 PM

CBS/AP) PHOENIX - Defense attorneys for Mark Goudeau, the man accused of being the so-called Baseline Killer, are set to give their closing arguments Tuesday.
Prosecutors gave their closing remarks Monday, showing video clips of testimony from earlier in the trial, with victims verbally identifying Goudeau or pointing to him in the courtroom. The 47-year-old construction worker is charged with nine murders and dozens of other crimes from 2005 and 2006, including rape and child molestation.

"He targeted innocent victims over and over and over again," prosecution attorney Patricia Stevens said yesterday.

"He is a predator with a desire for power. He controls not only his victims but his crimes scenes."

Once the defense rests, the case will be in the hands of the jury. If jurors find Goudeau guilty of any one of the nine murders, he could face the death penalty
The killings attributed to the Baseline Killer took place between August 2005 and June 29, 2006. The victims were shot in the head, and many were left with their pants unzipped and partially pulled down. The victims, eight of them women, ranged from 19 to 39 years old.

Authorities named the crimes after Baseline Road in south Phoenix where a number of the earliest attacks occurred.

On Monday, prosecutors said ballistics showed that the same gun was used in all the killings.

They also recounted DNA evidence that they say links Goudeau to crime scenes, including victims' blood and a piece of jewelry being found in his house. Defense attorneys have contended that there are likelier suspects than Goudeau and have discredited the DNA tests.
Goudeau has pleaded not guilty to the 72 charges he's facing.

Goudeau is already serving a 438-year prison sentence for a 2005 attack. In that case, police say he raped a woman while pointing a gun at her pregnant sister's belly. That crime is considered part of the Baseline Killer case.

Goudeau, who grew up in Phoenix, has spent 13 years of his life behind bars after being convicted of crimes that included beating a woman's head against a barbell. He was paroled in 2004.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_1...in;contentBody

**Dakota Valkyrie** · October 19th, 2011, 10:43 AM

The trial of the man accused of being the so-called Baseline Killer is now in a jury's hands.
[...]

Defense attorneys on Tuesday argued the state did not make a convincing case, KSAZ-TV reported. Goudeau's attorney, Randall Craig, questioned police work and DNA evidence during his closing statement.

Craig said it doesn't make sense that Goudeau would be careful to try to wipe away DNA left at crime scenes, as prosecutors allege, yet also was careless enough to keep evidence such as a victim's jewelry in his home.

Craig noted that no gun has been found and that surviving victims gave various descriptions of their attacker.
[...]

Goudeau's attorneys last month didn't call any witnesses for the defense, The Arizona Republic reported. Craig had asked Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Warren Granville for a directed verdict, arguing that the prosecution did not present enough evidence.

The newspaper reports Granville threw out a charge for sexual assault and another for attempted sexual assault.

Goudeau is facing 72 counts in all, including nine first-degree murder charges. The former construction worker has also been charged with kidnapping, rape and child molestation.
[...]

Jury deliberations are scheduled to begin Wednesday morning.

http://ktar.com/6/1462715/Goudeaus-case-heads-to-jury

**Abroad** · October 21st, 2011, 03:09 PM

Seems like we are waiting for Goudeau?

Sorry. I'll get my coat.

**Abroad** · October 21st, 2011, 03:10 PM

Bleh!

**Hellsbells** · November 1st, 2011, 07:07 AM

Jury convicts Arizona man of 9 murders in Baseline Killer case that terrorized Phoenix in 2006

PHOENIX — An Arizona jury on Monday found a former construction worker guilty of killing nine people in the so-called Baseline Killer case that terrorized the Phoenix area during the summer of 2006.

Mark Goudeau was accused of attacking his victims as they went about daily activities, such as leaving work or washing their car. He left most of them with their pants unzipped and partially pulled down. The victims — eight of them women — ranged from 19 to 39.

In all, Goudeau faced 72 counts, including the nine murders and various counts of kidnapping, sexual assault and robbery. He was found guilty of all but four counts, and the jury failed to reach a verdict on one charge

Although Goudeau already was serving a 438-year prison sentence in a sexual assault case connected to the Baseline Killer crimes for raping a woman while pointing a gun at her sister’s belly, prosecutors pursued the nine murder charges in a separate trial to get him the death sentence

.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...KaM_story.html

**Dakota Valkyrie** · December 1st, 2011, 07:13 PM

An Arizona jury on Wednesday sentenced a man to death for killing nine people during a spree that terrorized the Phoenix area, rejecting the man's pleas for mercy and denials of guilt and agreeing with prosecutors that the killings were especially cruel.

Jurors reached the verdict about a month after they found 47-year-old Mark Goudeau (goo-DOH') guilty of the nine murders and 58 other charges, including kidnapping and rape. They sentenced him to death on each of the nine murder counts.

"He's a demon from hell," said Maria Nunez, whose 37-year-old daughter Sofia Nunez was killed by Goudeau on April 10, 2006. Sofia Nunez's 8-year-old son is the one who found her body, partially naked in a bathtub with a gunshot to the head.

"It's a relief that it's over," Maria Nunez said, but added that it didn't bring her much comfort. "It's not going to bring Sofia back."

Goudeau was accused of attacking his victims as they went about daily activities, such as leaving work or washing their car. He left most of them with their pants unzipped and partially pulled down.
[...]

Goudeau didn't want to be in the courtroom when verdicts were read, but Judge Warren Granville forced him to stay. He sat quietly and didn't flinch throughout the proceeding.

His attorney, Randall Craig, declined to comment after the sentencing, citing an appeal he plans to file.

Goudeau had been serving a 438-year sentence in a 2005 sexual assault case tied to the Baseline Killer attacks, but only recently became eligible for the death penalty after his murder convictions.

"I believe in an eye for an eye," sobbed Teresa Washington, the sister of another of Goudeau's victims, 39-year-old Tina Washington. "He's not going to die the way my sister died."

Prosecutors had argued that Goudeau was a "ravenous wolf" driven by a hunger to rape women and kill those who didn't cooperate with his demands, and that the murders were especially cruel because the victims suffered unimaginable terror and anguish in the moments leading up to their deaths.

"He enjoyed the power and dominion he exercised over these victims," prosecutor Patricia Stevens told jurors. "He enjoyed the threats of force, the threats of death."

Stevens said that each of the eight female victims was forced to agonize over whether they would be raped or killed in the moments before they were shot, and that two of them were forced to watch Goudeau kill another person before he turned the gun on them, prolonging and intensifying their own terror.

The sole male victim was killed before prosecutors say Goudeau attacked his female co-worker.

Two weeks ago, Goudeau forced his lawyers to stop calling on witnesses in support of a life sentence after a psychologist implied that Goudeau struggled with impotence and insecurity. He opted instead to address jurors himself against his lawyers' wishes, telling them to follow their hearts when they decide whether to sentence him to death or life in prison.

"I am no monster," he told them. "I could look in each and every one of your eyes today and tell you Mark Goudeau is no wolf in sheep's clothing ... I do pray that one day you guys learn the truth about this case."
[...]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1123069.html

**Jerri Blank** · December 6th, 2011, 04:55 PM

1,200 years to Goudeau's sentences

By now, the sentences for convicted "Baseline Killer" Mark Goudeau are practically academic.

Goudeau, 47, received nine death sentences last week, one for each of the murders he is convicted of committing in a crime spree that stretched over nearly a year and startled the Valley. He was already serving more than 400 years for 19 charges related to the September 2005 sexual assault of two Phoenix sisters that was part of the same spree.

On Monday, Goudeau, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to nearly 1,200 years in prison for more than 50 robberies, rapes and assaults he committed from summer 2005 through summer 2006. [...]

http://www.azcentral.com/community/p...sentences.html