A county judge has denied a motion to dismiss homicide and other charges against a Huntington man whose trial last month ended in a mistrial.

Butler police charged Hassan L.R. Brack, 38, and two others with homicide in the December 2021 stabbing and shooting of Hakeem Moran, 31, at 109 College St.

Co-defendants Kahlil Z.H. Rippy Jr., 26, and Brooke R. Fair Smith, 31, both of Butler, testified against Brack during a five day trial that ended April 11 in a mistrial because the jury was deadlocked.

Rippy and Fair Smith testified that they and Brack planned to rob Moran of drugs. Fair-Smith said she went to Moran’s home, obtained drugs to sell and sent Brack a text message as a signal when she left. Rippy said he and Brack then entered Moran’s home, and Brack stabbed and shot Morgan during a struggle.

The co-defendants testified under terms 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.

The district attorney’s office is planning to refile charges against Brack. All three defendants remain in prison without bail. All three have been charged with homicide, attempted homicide, burglary and conspiracy charges

Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy McCune, who presided over the trial, declared a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict after deliberating for about nine hours over two days.

Defense attorney Rebecca Black filed a post-trial motion for acquittal on April 21. McCune issued an order April 24 denying the motion.

Black’s motion contains numerous arguments. There is no physical evidence linking Brack to the homicide, and police couldn’t identify Brack in surveillance videos, but said it was him because the person in the videos was limping, according to the motion.

Fair-Smith and Rippy testified that Brack had injured his leg in a dirt bike accident.

The knife police recovered and identified as the murder weapon contained Fair-Smith’s DNA, but not Brack’s, according to the motion.

Testimony from the co-defendants said all three defendants were involved in a plan to rob Moran, but screen shots of text messages used as evidence of the plan were not linked to Brack or his phone, according to the motion.

Two eyewitnesses did not identify Brack as the attacker, Rippy’s testimony contradicted previous testimony from a third eyewitness and none of those three witnesses testified during the trial, Black argued in the motion.

If not for the co-defendants’ testimony, the prosecution has insufficient evidence to prove the crimes filed against Brack and was not able to convince all the jurors that Brack was involved, according to the motion.

Police provided no evidence that anything was stolen from Moran or his home and nothing linked to the homicide or the home was recovered from Brack, according to the motion.

McCune’s order does not explain why the motion was denied.