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Brother, attorney say Hamad has terminal cancer, should be released
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The brother and attorney for Nasser Hamad have told the judge in his aggravated- murder case that Hamad was diagnosed in January with terminal kidney cancer and should be released from prison.
Hamad’s brother, Ahmad “Mike” Hamad, said in an affidavit that Nasser Hamad, 48, has renal cell carcinoma, and the cancer has metastasized to his lungs, making it hard for him to breathe.
“Nasser Hamad is terminally ill and is not being provided the proper medical care by the prison,” Ahmad Hamad said in the document, filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. The motion asks for a hearing.
Hamad was sentenced to 36 years to life in prison in November for killing two young men and injuring three other people who came to his house near the Eastwood Mall on state Route 46 in Howland Feb. 25, 2017, as part of an ongoing dispute involving Hamad’s girlfriend.
Atty. Geoffrey Oglesby of Sandusky, one of Hamad’s attorneys, filed the motion. It cited Ohio law that allows a dying prisoner to be released “as if on parole” if the inmate is in “imminent danger of death,” meaning likely to die within six months.
The filing acknowledges that Hamad is not eligible under current Ohio law for this type of release because he was convicted of aggravated murder, but Oglesby says that part of Ohio law is “unconstitutional and violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.”
Oglesby added, “To disallow compassionate release for someone terminally ill who was not given the death penalty is cruel and against the jury’s findings.”
The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office has not replied to the motion, and Judge Rice has not ruled on it.
The issue of Hamad’s physical health came up only briefly during his trial last year and only as an issue from the past.
Hamad having cancer also came up briefly in a civil stalking protection order hearing at the Trumbull County Courthouse in October 2016, a short time before the dispute began involving Hamad and his girlfriend’s family.
A former business associate of Hamad’s requested and received a protection order against Hamad because of threats Hamad had made while the two were working together on a construction project earlier in 2016.
The associate said Hamad had told him about the kidney cancer.
Mike Hamad said by telephone Thursday that his brother had a cancerous kidney removed a couple years ago, but the cancer came back in the other kidney after he went to prison.
He said his brother has been admitted several times in recent months for several days at a time to the Ohio State University Medical Center James Cancer Center in Columbus because of the cancer.