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Judge issues gag order, demands better behavior in Howland murder case
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The judge in the Nasser Hamad aggravated-murder case tried to rein in the drama Thursday, issuing a gag order that prohibits all parties from discussing facts about the case outside of hearings and court filings.
“The court finds, given the publicity so far, there is a reasonable likelihood of prejudicial pretrial publicity which may impact the ability to impanel an impartial jury,” Judge Ronald Rice said during a hearing Thursday.
His judgment entry, filed just after the hearing, prohibits attorneys, court personnel and “any public official” from disseminating information or giving opinions on the facts of the case.
Hamad, 47, of state Route 46 in Howland, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder and several counts of attempted aggravated murder in a Feb. 25 confrontation in his front yard just north of Eastwood Mall.
Police say five people arrived at Hamad’s home about 4:25 p.m., with the youngest, John Shively, 17, having a fist fight with Hamad. Shively and another man, Bryce Hendrickson, 20, engaged in Facebook taunts earlier in the day with Hamad, police said.
When the fight was over, Hamad went into the house, retrieved a gun and started firing at the five, who had returned to their van, police said.
Killed were Joshua Williams, 20, and Josh Haber, 19.
Chris Becker, assistant county prosecutor, filed a motion earlier Thursday asking for the gag order to “ensure a fair trial for all parties involved and avoid a change of venue [to another county] at great cost for all parties.”
Becker’s filing says Atty. Geoffrey Oglesby of Sandusky, who has represented Hamad since his March 2 arraignment, has made at least three excessive “extrajudicial statements to the media” that were made “with the sole purpose to try this case in the media and to create an atmosphere hostile to seating a fair and impartial jury.”
Becker said one news report March 2 was about Oglesby’s questioning whether Hamad was being treated fairly.
Becker quoted Oglesby as saying: “Can minorities stand their ground like other people?” and, “It seems like when minorities stand their ground, they get charged.”
Hamad accused Becker in court of threatening Hamad’s son the previous day and then asked Becker whether he was a “Jewish Zionist.” Becker did not respond.
And Oglesby filed several motions this week, one of which asks for charges against Hamad to be dropped on the basis of selective prosecution, saying prosecutors have turned a “blind eye” to indictable “hate crimes” committed by “the three white Americans [who survived the shootings] and charged the Arab-Muslim American [Hamad].”
A separate judgment entry says Hamad and the attorneys “shall refrain from outbursts and maintain the appropriate decorum both inside the courtroom and in the courthouse area.”
And it demands that attorneys and Hamad “be courteous with one another and respectful toward the court and judiciary in general.”
Unlike the March 2 hearing, Hamad did not speak at all during Thursday’s hearing.
The order will be discussed again at the next hearing, March 30, along with a number of motions already filed in the case. Judge Rice set a May 22 trial date.
Meanwhile, at the county family court not far away, Magistrate Alex Savakis on Thursday granted a protection order on behalf of Tracy Hendrickson for five years against Dylan Hendrickson, 18, one of her two sons.
Dylan did not attend the hearing, court personnel said.
Tracy Hendrickson is Hamad’s girlfriend. Police believe a conflict in her relationship with her husband, Brian Hendrickson, and her relationship with Hamad may have been a factor in the shootings. She was Hamad’s house at the time of the shootings.
Hearings also are scheduled for Friday against her other son, Bryce, and Monday against her husband. Bryce, 20, is recovering in the hospital from being shot in the face and arm.
All of the five who were shot, including Williams and Haber, and the woman who drove the car, were related to the Hendricksons.