Judge’s gag order to continue in Howland murder case

Staff report

WARREN

The judge in the Nasser Hamad aggravated-murder case has continued the gag order he imposed March 9 on all attorneys, court personnel and any public official.

Hamad, 47, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder and several counts of attempted aggravated murder.

He’s accused of shooting five people who went to his house on state Route 46 in Howland on Feb. 25 in an ongoing dispute. Two of them died.

Judge Ronald Rice of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court issued the order about the same time prosecutors requested a gag order.

Prosecutors said the attorneys should be prohibited from discussing the case outside of court because Atty. Geoffrey Oglesby, who represents Hamad, made statements “with the sole purpose of to try this case in the media and create an atmosphere hostile to seating a fair and impartial jury.”

The judge issued his own gag order March 9 and said Tuesday he was denying the prosecutor’s request for a gag order because it is moot because of his order.

The judge’s order, which prohibits attorneys, court personnel and any public official from disseminating information or giving opinions on the facts of the case, will continue indefinitely.

The judge also denied a request by Oglesby that Judge Rice order prosecutors to obtain a search warrant for the cellphones and Facebook accounts of the five people who went to Hamad’s house.

Oglesby requested the phones and Facebook page information because he says they will show the aggressive nature of the communications from some of the five leading up to the deadly encounter at Hamad’s home.

In his entry, Judge Rice said it is “beyond the scope of [criminal rules] to direct the state to subpoena information such as that requested by the defendant.”