49°
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
7 Day Forecast
Follow our weather team on social media

Man accused of hiring hitman to kill ex-wife moves to have his case dismissed

3 years 6 months 2 weeks ago Thursday, September 10 2020 Sep 10, 2020 September 10, 2020 6:20 AM September 10, 2020 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - A former Baton Rouge business owner accused of having his ex-wife murdered has fired his lawyers and is now requesting that his case be dismissed. 

On September 2, Hamid Ghassemi, the 69-year-old former automobile dealership owner arrested for allegedly hiring hitmen to kill is ex-wife, filed a motion to dismiss all charges against him. The motion cites construction fraud and infringement of secured rights as the reason for his request. 

Ghassemi was scheduled to stand trial Monday, September 14 but District Attorney Hillar Moore confirmed with WBRZ, by way of an email, that the trial will not take place on the scheduled date. 

In June, Ghassemi fired his former attorneys, Tommy Damico and Brent Stockstill, saying he'd been unhappy with their work on his behalf and it's possible that he may represent himself in court. 

According to court documents, Ghassemi is accused of hiring three hitmen, Tyler Ashpaugh, Daniel Richter, and Skyler Williams to kill his ex-wife, Taherah Ghassemi.

Taherah was shot in the head on April 11, 2015 and buried in a remote part of St. Helena Parish. 

Ashpaugh and Richter told authorities Ghassemi also planned for the hitmen to kill his son, Hamed. 

The killing was allegedly to take place on the same night but did not occur because Hamed didn't go straight home after work that night.

Ashpaugh and Richter also claimed the third accused hitman, Skyler Williams, was previously hired to attack Hamed Ghassemi a little more than a month before the killing. 

Both Ashpaugh and Richter were convicted through plea deals in 2018. 

More News

Desktop News

Click to open Continuous News in a sidebar that updates in real-time.
Radar
7 Days