By Jason Kuiper
World-Herald News Service
Published: Thursday, May 5, 2011 9:54 AM CDT
OMAHA - When Officer George Cardenas pulled up to a Chevy Camaro stopped on the on-ramp to L Street from 72nd Street, it looked like nothing more than car trouble.
The woman in the car, Rita J. Eckhout, told Cardenas there was "no problem."
The driver, Mitchel L. Hadan, held up a key fob and said the car wouldn't start.
Seconds later, as Cardenas was calling out on his radio that he was on a motorist assist call and would divert traffic, he heard two "pops" from inside the Camaro.
The troubled relationship between Hadan and Eckhout ended Jan. 1 in what Omaha police and prosecutors say was a homicide and failed suicide attempt.
Cardenas saw the woman he had just spoken to climb out of the passenger side window and fall to the ground. He took cover behind his cruiser and waited for backup.
When extra Omaha and Ralston police officers arrived, they found Eckhout, 35, had been shot in the left cheek and that Hadan, 47, had shot himself in the head but was still alive.
Paralyzed on the right side, Hadan appeared Wednesday in a Douglas County courtroom wearing tan pants and a matching shirt. He was seated at the defense table in a wheelchair with a nurse at his side.
Douglas County Judge Susan Bazis ordered Hadan to stand trial on charges of first-degree murder, use of a firearm to commit a felony, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a controlled substance.
Eckhout died at the scene, and Hadan spent months in the hospital.
Detective Chris Gordon said Hadan's left arm was still moving when officers got to the Camaro. A handgun was on his lap and two bags of what was later determined to be methamphetamine were on the passenger-side floorboard.
He testified that Hadan had been making comments and sending texts to friends that he was despondent.
Hadan and Eckhout had a tumultuous relationship that began in 2006.
There was a pending terroristic-threats charge against Hadan in which Eckhout was the alleged victim. Hadan also had served more than eight years in prison for two violent crimes - assaulting an officer and robbery with a gun.
Both Eckhout and Hadan had meth in their systems, Gordon said.
Hadan's attorney, J. William Gallup, said that since gunshot residue testing results had not yet been returned, Eckhout may have shot Hadan.
In therapy sessions, Hadan has said relatives have told him that he shot Eckhout and then himself. He has also said Eckhout shot him and then someone else shot Eckhout in the face, Gallup said.
"I am not sure who shot who," Gallup said.
Hadan is being held at the Nebraska Department of Corrections Diagnostic and Evaluation Center.
Jackie Hascall, 28, a cousin of Eckhout, sat in court and heard some details of the shooting for the first time. She fought back tears when the autopsy results were relayed.
Afterward, she said she hopes justice is served and that other women in similar relationships avoid her cousin's fate.
No comments:
Post a Comment