Testimony concluded Wednesday, April 9, in the homicide case against a Huntington man charged with the December 2021 stabbing and shooting death of a Pittsburgh man at a College Street residence in Butler.

Jury deliberations are set to begin Thursday in Butler County Common Pleas Court to decide the fate of Hassan Brack, 38, who Butler police charged with killing Hakeem Moran, 31, on Dec. 5, 2021, at 109 College St. The trial began Monday.

Two co-defendants, Kahlil Z.H. Rippy Jr., 26, of Butler, and Brooke R. Fair Smith, 31, of Butler, testified as part of an agreement with the district attorney’s office in which Rippy will be sentenced to serve 4 to 10 years in prison and Fair Smith will spend 3.5 to 10 years in prison.

Retired Lt. Chad Rensel, the lead investigator and prosecution’s final witness, testified about surveillance footage he said shows Brack and others outside of his home and other locations at times that link him to the homicide.

Under cross-examination, he said all the footage was recorded after sunset and faces can’t be seen. He said he identified Brack as one of the people in the footage by a limp. Brack had injured his leg in a dirt bike accident and was limping, according to previous testimony.

Some footage came from a surveillance camera near Brack’s home, but no footage was recorded of Rippy or Fair Smith at Brack’s home, Rensel said. Rippy and Fair Smith testified Tuesday that they were at Brack’s home on Dec. 5.

Rensel briefly testified about screenshots the FBI obtained of Facebook messages sent between Brack and Fair Smith that he obtained 11 months after the incident. He said the retention period of the actual messages is only 90 days. He said he did not try to obtain the messages from Facebook.

Three other people who lived in the College Street building and witnessed the incident were not able to identify Brack and gave descriptions that do not match him, Rensel said. He said that information was not included in his report about the incident due to an oversight. Rensel said Brack and Rippy wore masks that covered the bottom halves of their faces.

Two of the building residents told police they saw three people enter the building, Rensel said. Rippy testified that only he and Brack went inside the building.

The prosecution alleges Fair Smith set up Moran to be robbed of drugs by Brack and Rippy, but Brack stabbed and shot Moran. Fair Smith said she bought drugs from Moran and signaled Brack to enter when she left.

Rensel said no evidence of Brack being in the building was found.

He said keys to a Chrysler Pacifica, which Brack allegedly drove to the house, appeared to have been dropped before he fled and were found by one of the other people living there, and that person might have moved the keys before a city officer took a photo of them.

A state police trooper from the forensic services unit who photographed the scene did not find or take a photo of the keys, Rensel said.

Brack’s DNA was not found on a knife prosecutors said was used in the stabbing and was found under a car near the scene, and the gun used to shoot Moran was never found, Rensel said.

He said Fair Smith did not implicate Brack or mention her involvement in her first interview with police on Dec. 5.

Fair Smith went to the police station on Dec. 6 to request a protection from abuse order against Brack after she said he was circling her home in a vehicle that day, and she implicated Brack in Moran’s death, Rensel said. Officers determined she was lying about Brack driving around her house, but he said he did not add that conclusion in his report, he said.

Rensel said Fair Smith lied about some details in three statements she made to police. She admitted she owns the knife used in the stabbing, but she left it at Brack’s house, he said. Rippy also made false statements about the incident, he said.

Rensel said a man who used to live in the College Street building said people were out to get Moran, and Moran’s bother called police and reported that two other people were involved in his death. Rensel said police were not able to get back in touch with the brother. None of that information was included in his report, he said.

A person who had contact with Brack on Dec. 5 and and a person who had contact with Fair Smith on Dec. 5 were not interviewed, Rensel said.

The only defense witness, Glenn Bard, of digital forensics firm Patctech, testified Wednesday that screen shots of Facebook messages between Brack and Fair Smith that an FBI agent linked to the incident were not found on their phones, but other Facebook messages were found on their phones.

Defense attorney Rebecca Black made a motion to dismiss all the charges against Brack. She said no evidence was presented regarding Brack’s state of mind, which is required for a first-degree murder conviction, and no evidence of a robbery or burglary was presented. She said thousands of dollars were found on Moran and drugs were found in his apartment. In addition to homicide, Brack has been charged with attempted homicide, burglary, attempted robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.

Judge Timothy McCune denied her request for a verdict.