Defense to ask for bond for man accused of murder-for-hire

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - A man accused of an alleged murder-for-hire will ask a judge to set a bond amount at an upcoming hearing, his defense lawyer says.

Attorney Tommy Damico plans to file a motion requesting a bond amount for his client Hamid Ghassemi. The only reason this has not happened yet is because the defense is waiting on the prosecution to make a decision regarding the death penalty.

"We asked the DA to commit to whether they are going to seek the death penalty or not, which would affect the bond," Damico explained. "If it's a capital case, then no bond can be set. But if it's not a capital case, then the judge can set a bond."

Damico hopes to have that motion heard sometime in late April or early May.

Judge Louis Daniel did set a date to hear arguments regarding a motion to suppress evidence. That will happen on June 22.

Ghassemi is accused of hiring Daniel Humberto Richer, Tyler Lee Ashpaugh, and Skyler W. Williams to murder his former wife, 54-year-old Taherah Ghassemi, whose body was found on May 16, 2015 in a shallow grave in St. Helena Parish.

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