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Hamad penalty phase begins Monday
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
When the penalty phase of the Nasser Hamad aggravated-murder trial begins at 9 a.m. Monday, one of the witnesses expected to testify is Dr. James Reardon, a clinical psychologist from Worthington.
Defense attorneys had hoped for Reardon to testify in the first part of the trial, to discuss his diagnosis that Hamad suffered from post- traumatic stress disorder at the time of the Feb. 25 shootings in front of his house on state Route 46 in Howland.
A jury found Hamad guilty Monday of two counts of aggravated murder and six counts of attempted aggravated murder.
Judge Ronald Rice of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court did not allow Reardon’s testimony during the first part of the trial, saying Ohio law does not allow it in such cases.
Joshua Williams, 20, and Joshua Haber, 19, died in the shootings. April Trent-Vokes, 42, Bryce Hendrickson, 20, and John Shively, 17, were injured by the gunfire.
Reardon testified in a 2013 murder trial in Chillicothe on behalf of a man convicted of killing his daughter-in-law.
In that case, Reardon said the defendant grew up in an abusive household in which he felt powerless to protect himself, his siblings and his mother from savage beatings by his father. The jury gave the defendant a life prison sentence instead of the death penalty.
Darlene St. George, Howland Township administrator, attended three full days of testimony last week and came away especially proud of the actions of a Howland boy, 15, and his mother on the day of the shootings. St. George said she plans to invite Kym and Skylar Daniels to a township trustees meeting at some point to recognize and thank them for what they did.
“These people did what they thought was right and had no idea their life would be in jeopardy. That just takes my breath away. They have my respect and admiration,” she said.
Skylar Daniels, now 16, and his mother, Kym, were traveling along Route 46 with Skylar driving on a learner’s permit. Kym, a nurse, saw a male on the other side of the road waving for help and thought it was a car accident.
They turned their car around and pulled into Hamad’s driveway. Kym Daniels went to the driver’s door and saw Trent-Vokes with head, arm and leg injuries. She spoke to Trent-Vokes briefly but then saw Hamad near the house holding a gun, so she and her son both got back into their vehicle.
Hamad started walking toward them with the gun pointed at them, Kym testified. They couldn’t back the car into the street because of traffic. But moments later, Kym and Skylar heard sirens indicating that police were nearby, and Hamad walked back toward his house.
Kym and Skylar directed police to where Hamad had gone, and officers arrested him. Kym went back to helping Trent-Vokes and assessing the other victims.
Skylar was standing nearby as a police officer took Hamad past him to put him into a cruiser. Hendrickson and Shively, who had run from Hamad’s gunfire, returned to the Hamad property at that point.
Skylar testified at the trial about the angry comments Hamad made to Hendrickson as Hamad was taken to the cruiser. Hendrickson had been shot in the face.
When Shively became emotional at seeing the serious injuries of his mother, Trent-Vokes, Kym told Skylar to “talk to him.”
“He was very distraught about his mother being in that condition,” Skylar testified. “It was as if he was screaming in agony for his mom.”
Skylar asked Shively how old he was and where he went to school to take his mind off of his mother.
“He replied by saying, ‘We just moved here two weeks ago from Florida,’ and I asked him if he was from Howland. He said no. He said this wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Shively asked Skylar if Shively had been shot. Shively lifed up his hooded sweatshirt, and Skylar saw a grazing wound on Shively’s back.
“I told him: ‘You’re not going to die, but you have been shot,’” Skylar said.
St. George said as she listened to Skylar testify, she was struck by “how he didn’t get hysterical. He’s 151/2 years old when this happened, and I thought what strength that took, what character that showed in him.”
St. George said Skylar showed the same type of strength when he testified in court, even being cross-examined by a defense attorney.
“He never wavered. He was very clear about his facts. He could express himself so eloquently. And the fact that he was able to be there and administer what help he could ... I was awestruck by that and so proud.”