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Filing says Nasser Hamad fired at ‘attackers’ because of PTSD
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Lawyers for Nasser Hamad filed their most bold assertions to date in a motion that for the first time says several of the five people who went to his house Feb. 25 assaulted Hamad in his front yard.
The filing in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court also asks Judge Ronald Rice for permission to introduce evidence from a psychologist that Hamad killed two of the five and injured the others because he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder brought on by the Feb. 25 fight and monthslong feud with some of the five.
Hamad lived on state Route 46 in Howland, close to the Eastwood Mall complex.
The judge has not ruled on the request.
A Sept. 11 filing by Hamad attorneys Robert Dixon and David Doughten asks that Dr. James Reardon be able to testify at the trial set for Oct. 11 that Hamad was suffering from PTSD at the time of the killings.
Prosecutors previously filed a motion asking the judge to deny the testimony, saying courts have ruled such information is only permitted in cases of battered-woman or battered-child syndrome.
Hamad’s motion says Reardon “would testify, in sum, that because of the constant threats of death from some of the attackers over a period of approximately six months, and the beating Hamad suffered from those who unlawfully entered onto his property Feb. 25 ... he was suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.”
The motion says Hamad’s defense is not arguing that Hamad was insane.
But because “several of the men beating him” were “the same ones that had made numerous racial slurs and death threats to him both online and by entering his property and leaving notes as well as driving by while yelling threats,” Hamad had reason to fear for his life, the motion asserts.
It claims Hamad received a “death threat” on his front porch the night before the shootings, that some of the males “had a violent past, were heavy drug users and were capable of anything” and had posed with firearms and knives in social media threats directed at Hamad.
It adds that during the fight at Hamad’s house, Hamad “repeatedly heard one of the attackers yelling ‘get the gun, get the gun,’ as at least one of the attackers headed toward the van and appeared to retrieve something from under the seat. At this point, Mr. Hamad shot in reasonable fear for his life.”
No gun associated with the five was found, but the Hamad motion says it’s possible there was one because two of the males fled from the scene and “had every opportunity to dispose of any weapons they might have possessed.”
The motion says Hamad was “in defense of himself and his female friend who was also assaulted by someone in the group. Mr. Hamad so feared that they would attack with guns that he instructed the female to hide behind the brick fireplace in the house – the only area that could not be penetrated by bullets,” the filing says.
Police have said Hamad’s girlfriend, Tracey Hendrickson, was at Hamad’s home that afternoon.
Hendrickson told The Vindicator on Feb. 26 that about four men came out of a van and were “beating the [deleted] out of” Hamad, and a woman “had me pinned” nearby.
A witness calling 911 also told a 911 operator she saw “a group of kids beating the [deleted] out of someone” before the shootings, according to calls released by the county 911 center.
Police and prosecutors have described the confrontation as a fistfight not far from Hamad’s front door between one of the five, John Shively, 17, and Hamad. They said after the fight ended, the five went back to their van by the road. Prosecutors said Hamad then went into the house, got a gun, fired it at the five, returned to the home, reloaded the gun and fired again, killing Joshua Williams, 20, and Josh Haber, 19, both of Warren, and wounding April Vokes, 43, of Florida, Shively of Florida, and Bryce Hendrickson, 20, of Dawson Drive in Howland.
If Hamad, 48, is convicted of aggravated murder and other charges at trial, a second phase will take place to determine whether Hamad will get the death penalty.
The Hamad filing also alleges that Hamad questioned whether calling Howland police would have protected him and Tracey Hendrickson from the five because no police responded to his home on “at least two previous occasions when he was threatened by members of the attack group.”
Police reports show a feud had lingered for months between Hamad and various members of Tracey Hendrickson’s family, including her sons and estranged husband. Bryce Hendrickson is one of her sons.
A Nov. 6, 2016, Howland police report says Hamad called 911 several times that day starting about 5 p.m. regarding problems with the Hendricksons, who lived a short distance away. An officer said he tried to call Hamad back but got voicemail.
Hamad “called back two more times while officers were on other calls,” the police report says. The officer said he spoke with Hamad at 7:17 p.m., and Hamad said a vehicle was driving past Hamad’s house with people yelling obscenities and throwing trash into Hamad’s yard.
Hamad told the officer his girlfriend also received text messages that day from members of the Hendrickson family threatening to bring guns to Hamad’s house.
The officer advised Hamad to file charges at the Warren prosecutor’s office.
The new Hamad filing says Hamad “has been diagnosed with PTSD [post traumatic stress syndrome]” and his symptoms Feb. 25 were similar to those a female defendant cited in a 1990 Ohio case called State v. Koss that involved battered-woman syndrome.
In that case, a court determined the defendant had a right to present expert testimony that “because of a history of being battered and suffering from constant physical and verbal threats, the victim is permitted to present to the jury that she essentially acted in self-defense.”
Judge Rice ordered that Shively come back to Ohio from Florida to testify at the trial beginning Oct. 23. Jury selection begins Oct. 11.