WARREN — A Howland man, who bickered in court with an assistant prosecutor Thursday, pleaded not guilty to capital aggravated murder charges that carry the death penalty as well as other felonies in connection with the fatal shooting of two men and the wounding of three others Saturday afternoon outside his 1564 Niles-Cortland Road home.

An agitated Nasser Y. Hamad, 47, was arraigned before Common Pleas Judge Ronald J. Rice shortly before noon. An attorney, Geoffrey L. Oglesby of Sandusky, who stepped forward in the middle of the hearing, represented Hamad, who was clad in orange coveralls, had a bandage on his left hand and one on his head.

Hamad was indicted Wednesday on two counts of aggravated murder with specification of aggravating circumstances and firearm specification, and six counts of attempted aggravated murder with firearm specifications.

Rice agreed with a motion made by assistant Prosecutor Christopher Becker and revoked Hamad’s $5 million bond. In his motion, Becker noted the Ohio Constitution allows no bond for defendants in capital cases.

Hamad was returned to the county jail in handcuffs and chains amid a heavy security escort.

A pretrial is set for March 30 in Rice’s court.

At the beginning of the hearing, Hamad did not have an attorney. He complained to the judge that the sheriff sent a public defender to talk to him a few minutes before he was to leave for court. Once in court, Hamad clearly was angry at Becker, claiming the assistant prosecutor had been “leaking” information to the media and “harassing” his son.

More than a dozen of Hamad’s relatives were in the courtroom.

“The charges seem to be piling up against me,” Hamad told the judge.

Rice repeatedly had to tell the defendant to keep quiet, because anything he was saying was on the record.

Then Oglesby stepped forward offering his services to the defendant.

After the hearing, Oglesby and Hamad’s brother, Mike Hamad of Sandusky, both said the defendant was innocent of the charges, claiming self defense. They both said Hamad was defending himself because a van full of people had driven onto his property.

“I believe race is clearly is an issue in this case,” Olgesby said about his American-born client who is of Arab descent. “This is clearly a case of self-defense. He was attacked and he had rights within the ‘defend your castle’ law.”

Olgesby said he is not credentialed to defend capital cases and may have to use “resources from the public defender’s office.”

“It can become very costly to defend a capital case and we will have to look at (the defendant’s) financial considerations,” Oglesby said.

Meanwhile, Becker said he was satisfied that the court “took our motion seriously” in revoking Hamad’s bond.

An affidavit written by Howland detective Tony Villanueva describes in detail the events that began 4:25 p.m. Saturday after a minivan drove up to Hamad’s state Route 46 home:

Occupants exited a gold minivan with Florida license plates, and a fist fight ensued. After the fight, Hamad allegedly went into the home to grab a 9mm handgun.

The affidavit said Hamad told police, “I just shot them. I got tired of this (expletive). They have been (expletive) with me for a long time and they shouldn’t have come over.”

The affidavit lists the dead as Joshua Haber, 19, and Joshua Williams, 20. The three other gunshot victims are April Vokes, 43, John Shivley, 17, and Bryce Hedrickson, 20.

Haber was declared dead at the scene, while Williams later died at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital. Vokes was shot numerous times in the head, arms, chest and legs while in the driver’s seat of the van and remains hospitalized. Hendrickson was shot in the face and arm and underwent surgery Tuesday, while Shively was shot in the back.

The affidavit also describes Hamad allegedly shooting at both Shively and Hendrickson as they ran away from the crime scene along or across the busy commercial stretch of state Route 46, which at the time was full of weekend traffic.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com