CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – After three days of testimony and a few hours of deliberation on Thursday morning, Hamid Houbbadi was found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2018 stabbing of his estranged wife.
Houbbadi, 43, was convicted by the jury on all three counts: first-degree murder, first-degree murder in perpetration of a crime and especially aggravated burglary.
Victim had sought shelter
After opening statements on Monday, Tuesday started with testimony from Kevin Fowler, a lawyer from the Legal Aid Society who represented the victim, 41-year-old Leila Chanane, in her bid for an ex parte order of protection from Houbbadi a little over three weeks before she was found dead in a neighbor’s driveway.
The order was filed Sept. 26, 2018, and Houbbadi was to immediately leave their shared residence on Bellamy Lane and not be around Chanane. However, the order did allow Houbbadi to enter the residence between noon on Oct. 9 and 5 p.m. on Oct. 10 to gather personal clothing and medication.
Chanane stayed at the YWCA domestic violence shelter in Nashville from Sept. 26, 2o18, to Oct. 11, 2018.
On Oct. 19, the day before Chanane’s body was found, someone cut power to the house.
John Jackson, an energy services manager for CDE Lightband, testified that there was nothing unusual that would explain the power having been cut to the residence – such as a weather outage or electrical work – that is, unless someone manually turned it off.
“There was a cut of power at some point between 11 and 11:15 a.m,” Jackson said.
This would put someone cutting the electricity to the home about 20 minutes after Houbbadi arrived via Uber from Walmart.
Jackson testified the home’s electricity wasn’t turned back on until somewhere between 5 and 5:15 p.m. on the following day.
Finding the bodies
Garland Lester, a paramedic with the Montgomery County Emergency Services and death investigator for the county, testified that he was present when police discovered Houbbadi inside the residence next door to where Chanane’s body was found.
Houbbadi had wounds that suggested he tried to kill himself.
“There was an individual just inside the door with … I want to say it was his left hand, was cut really bad, and there was dry blood everywhere, and there was cuts to his neck,” Lester said.
“I’m trying to figure out how to describe it,” Lester said when District Attorney General Robert Nash asked him to elaborate on the injuries. “It was the most cuts that I’ve ever seen, like lacerations to a wrist area.”
On Wednesday, medical examiner Dr. David Zimmerman testified that many of Chanane’s wounds on her back and chest were several inches in depth and width. Some broke through rib and sternum bones, while others punctured her lungs. One severed a pulmonary artery.
He added that he did not find any defensive wounds on Chanane, and her toxicology report came back free of drugs and alcohol.
After the state rested its case, the defense then made a motion for acquittal on the basis that the state had not proved premeditation or that an aggravated burglary occurred.
“They’ve not put on any proof of any sort of entry that he (Houbbadi) made into the residence with the intent to commit an assault or an attack, and that that occurred inside of the house,” Houbbadi’s attorney Chase Smith said.
Judge Robert Bateman denied Smith’s motion.
Closing arguments
During closing arguments, Nash argued that the sequence of events – Houbbadi driving to Walmart to pick up medication and then taking an Uber to the home on Bellamy Lane – was all evidence of premeditative forensic countermeasures.
“It has to stick in your mind. That’s just not normal, unless we’re up to no good,” Nash told the jury.
“I don’t suspect the Mr. Houbbadi wanted to survive the wounds he inflicted on himself,” Nash continued. “He didn’t expect to get away with this.”
He then reminded the jury of Lester’s comments about the gore at the scene and extent of Houbbadi’s injuries. “He killed her, and out of guilt, he went inside to commit suicide,” Nash said.
Smith, in his closing arguments for the defense, doubled down on his warning to the jury during opening statements about making assumptions.
“You can’t fill in the links of the chain for the state if they didn’t prove something,” Smith said, alluding to the gaps the sequence of events that the state did not account for.
That didn’t seem to matter to the jury. They returned guilty verdicts on all counts after deliberating for a little over three hours.
“We’re pleased with the verdict, and of course we always respect whatever the jury verdicts are,” Nash said. “It always feels good to get justice for victims. This is just a tragic event that didn’t need to happen. A lady lost her life, now he’s lost his.”
Smith did not have a comment on the verdict.
Houbbadi’s sentencing has been set for Feb. 25.