HAMAD TRIAL | Jury gets the case on Monday, plans to stay overnight

2:25 p.m.

WARREN

The defense has rested its case in the Nasser Hamad aggravated murder case after Hamad testified for another hour after lunch. That ends testimony in the trial, and closing arguments will be given Monday morning.

VIDEO: Nasser Hamad testifies in court

The jury was instructed to bring an overnight bag Monday because they will be sequestered that night, meaning they will go to a hotel that night instead of going home.

Hamad gave explosive testimony for more than an hour before lunch and another hour of cross examination by Chris Becker, assistant prosecutor. Hamad gave a blow-by-blow narration of the events Feb. 25 when he shot five people who arrived at his house in a confrontation.

Hamad, 48, spoke in a rapid fashion, rarely stopping except to look skyward while trying to remember details asked of him by one of his attorneys, David Doughten.

Hamad readily admitted to having taken his firearm toward the minivan near the street in front of his house on state Route 46 in Howland and firing at it at the group.

12:45 p.m.

WARREN

Nasser Hamad gave explosive testimony for more than an hour before lunch today in his aggravated murder trial, delivering a blow-by-blow narration of the events Feb. 25 when he shot five people who arrived at his house in a confrontation.

Hamad, 48, spoke in a rapid fashion, rarely stopping except to look skyward while trying to remember details asked of him by one of his attorneys, David Doughten.

Hamad readily admitted to having taken his firearm toward the minivan near the street in front of his house on state Route 46 in Howland and firing at it at the group.

That followed his detailed explanation of the beginning of the confrontation, when April Trent-Vokes and her son, John Shively, 17, got out of their van, and Trent-Vokes started yelling at him about the way he had treated a 17-year-old. The three males in the car then got out, and they started beating on him, he said.

He had recall of hundreds of minor details of what he did after the beating ended, describing his actions as if remembering the details in a military conflict,. He described the threats he felt from the five, saying he heard them say they had a gun and he was sure they had one. No gun from the five was ever recovered.

Hamad said he had not fired in the direction of one of the four males in the vehicle until the male "lunged at me with a knife."

Of April Trent-Vokes, the woman in the driver's seat, Hamad said she was in the van screaming, but he never described shooting her, though she was hit six times.

He said he didn't fire at one of the males, who he now knows is Shively, because the male had his hands up. But a short time later, when Shively ran from Hamad's house south along Route 46, Hamad fired at him as he ran.

Despite firing into the van numerous times, at one point Hamad said he was still concerned for his safety because "still two, in my mind, were not hit" and he could see them "bending," which he believed meant they were reaching for a gun.

Hamad is charged with two counts of aggravated murder and several counts of attempted murder and could get the death penalty if convicted of certain charges.

Judge Ronald Rice ruled just before Hamad began to testify that his lawyers would not be allowed to use the testimony of an expert witness in the trial to talk about diagnosing Hamad with post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of the shootings.

10:50 a.m.

WARREN

Nasser Hamad, 48, has just taken the witness stand in his aggravated murder trial, saying he has lived in Trumbull County 45 years and is an American citizen, having been born in North Carolina.

The judge in the Nasser Hamad aggravated murder case just just ruled that Hamad will not be allowed to present expert testimony that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he is accused of killing two people and injuring three others.

The testimony of Tracy Hendrickson, his girlfriend, resumed this morning. The end of her testimony marks the end of the state's case.

Part of her testimony was about the dysfunctional relationship she said she had with her husband and sons, saying specifically of her son, Bryce, 20, he got "mean" after he started using "hard drugs."

She went back to live at the Hendrickson home for a couple days in early February to try to get him into drug rehab, but he thought he didn't have a problem, she said.

She started living nearly full time with Hamad at his home on state Route 46 in Howland shortly after she left her husband and sons again. When her husband and sons found out she was living there, the harassment she got from them got worse, she said.

Mostly it involved text messages, but she eventually got rid of that phone. Then the messages came from Bryce on Facebook. They discussed some from Dec. 2 in which Bryce threatened her.

She talked about a birthday card she mailed to Bryce that she found when she and Hamad returned home Feb. 24. It was on the door step of Hamad's home, and it had vulgar comments in the handwriting of her husband, Brian Hendrickson, and Bryce.

She later testified to what she called the "beating" the four boys that came to Hamad's house Feb. 25 gave to Hamad near the front door.

She said there was "no doubt in my mind" that they came to Hamad's house that day for violence.

The defense will be allowed to present witnesses next. It is not known what witnesses they will bring to the witness stand other than Hamad.

9:20 a.m.

WARREN — The testimony of Tracy Hendrickson, girlfriend of Nasser Hamad, has resumed this morning in Hamad's aggravated murder trial.

Tracy Hendrickson spent about an hour testifying late Thursday about what she saw of the confrontation at Hamad's house Feb. 25 when two people died and three others were injured.

Some of the testimony also involved Facebook comments between Hamad and her son, Bryce Hendrickson, 20, one of the five people shot Feb. 25 at Hamad's home on state Route 46 in Howland.

Today she is being questioned by one of Hamad's attorneys, Robert Dixon.

She is telling Dixon and the jury that Bryce and other members of her family had drug addictions.

She said she tried in early February to get Bryce into drug rehab, but he thought he didn't need it.