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Testimony expected to begin Monday in Nasser Hamad trial
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN
Jury selection produced 31 potential jurors late Monday in the Nasser Hamad aggravated-murder case, leaving nine more to be picked today.
Wednesday is expected to be an off day, followed by a selection process Thursday afternoon in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court that will narrow 40 potential jurors down to 12 and four alternates, Judge Ronald Rice said Monday.
That will allow the final jury pool to be taken Friday to the shooting scene at Hamad’s home on state Route 46 in Howland near Eastwood Mall to help them understand the locations that will be mentioned during testimony.
Opening statements and the start of testimony will begin Monday morning and last about two weeks.
Monday was the third day of jury selection, and it allowed Judge Rice and the attorneys for the prosecution and defense to question potential jurors on their feelings about the death penalty, and to better understand whether they had formed an opinion regarding the facts of the case.
One potential juror among the 31 said she had read news articles about the Hamad case on Facebook and saw comments some of her Facebook friends had made about it, but she still had an open mind and would judge the case based on what she heard during the trial.
Hamad, 48, is charged with two counts of aggravated murder and several counts of attempted aggravated murder after a Feb. 25 confrontation at his house. Police said it was related to an ongoing feud between him and several members of his girlfriend’s family.
The day of the shootings, one of her sons and others related to her through marriage came to Hamad’s house, resulting in a fistfight in front of Hamad’s house. After it was over, police and prosecutors say, Hamad fired at the five as they returned to their van.
If convicted of some of the charges, Hamad could get the death penalty.
Those killed were Joshua Haber, 19, and Josh Williams, 20.
Those injured were Bryce Hendrickson, 20, John Shively, 17, and April Trent-Vokes, 42, who police say drove the four men to Hamad’s home.
Hendrickson was on the witness list for the trial, but he died in a home in McDonald on Sept. 30. Police suspect his death and that of a woman with him were the result of drug overdoses.
If Hamad were to be convicted of aggravated murder and the aggravating circumstance of trying to kill two or more people, a second trial would take place a few days later to determine punishment, Judge Rice said.
At that point, jurors would be asked to weigh the aggravating circumstances against mitigating factors to determine whether Hamad should get the death penalty.