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Survivors of shooting also should face charges, Hamad lawyer insists
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Document
Alleging again that the three surviving victims of a Feb. 25 shooting in Howland should be criminally charged, the attorney for Nasser Hamad of Howland filed two more motions Thursday in Hamad’s aggravated-murder case.
Atty. Geoffrey Oglesby of Sandusky asked that the common pleas court convene a grand jury and appoint a special prosecutor to prosecute the three survivors.
Hamad, 47, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder and several counts of attempted aggravated murder in the deaths of two people and wounding of three others who came to his house on state Route 46 as part of an ongoing dispute. If convicted, he could get the death penalty.
The incident began as a fist fight, but afterward, Hamad went into the house, retrieved a handgun, came outside and fired it at the five people, who had returned to their vehicle.
The filing says Ohio law requires that the prosecutor’s office assert that it has a conflict of interest before a special prosecutor is appointed.
“While technically [the prosecutor’s office] has not asserted a conflict of interest, by their actions it is clear that a conflict exists,” the filing says.
Oglesby filed a motion March 8 in the case asking that charges against his client be dismissed because prosecutors “turned a blind eye” to the charges that could be filed against the three survivors for their actions that day.
In a related filing, Oglesby asked Judge Ronald Rice on Thursday to order investigators to obtain a search warrant to collect cellphones, Facebook information, computer data and other evidence relating to the five people who were shot that day. The prosecutor’s office has not yet responded to any of the motions filed by Hamad.
The five, who all have Warren or Howland addresses, are related in various ways to Tracy Hendrickson, 47, Hamad’s girlfriend.
Joshua Williams, 20, and Josh Haber, 19, died in the shootings; April Trent-Vokes, 42, and Bryce Hendrickson, 20, were seriously wounded. John Shively, 17, was grazed, police said.
The next hearing will be at 1:30 p.m. March 30.