Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum said Rader and co-defendant Bryan Hodge, 28, who is charged with murder and tampering with evidence, beat Huff over an incident of spitting in a beer. Phillabaum said there were allegations Huff may have molested a relative of Rader’s, but a Hamilton police investigation determined “that flat out wasn’t true.”
During opening statements, Phillabaum played phone conversations placed by Rader on July 28, just minutes after the beating, to his wife housed in the Butler County Jail.
“He’s knocked out. He’s bleeding like a stuck kidney,” Rader told his wife before talking about getting water to clean up.
“There’s blood everywhere out in front of the house,” Rader told his wife, who urged him to wake Huff to see if he is alive.
Defense attorney Lawrence Hawkins III told the jury Hodge was the person who killed Huff and that Rader tried to wake the victim after he was beaten and even called 911.
He said there was a conflict between Huff and Hodge, and that when the two visited Rader’s residence July 28, Hodge began striking Huff.
In the call to his wife, Rader exaggerated his involvement in the crime, Hawkins said, adding, “Evidence will show my client never struck, never beat up, never touched Michael Huff.”
Rader’s neighbors, Tim Smith and his daughter, Brittany, both testified Monday that Rader was involved in the incident.
Tim Smith said he was cleaning out his truck on July 28 and saw Rader on top of someone he believed to be Huff through the kitchen window. Rader appeared to be hitting the other man, Smith said.
“I just know somebody was getting their butt whipped by Jason,” Smith said.
Brittany Smith was grilling pork chops for dinner when she saw Rader, Hodge and Huff come out of the residence. She said Huff tried to get in his truck, but was having difficulty.
More words were exchanged, and Hodge pulled Huff out of the truck and begin hitting him. She said Rader was standing by the truck and appeared to rummage though the console.
During cross-examination, Brittany Smith said she never saw Rader hit Huff.
The trial, which is expected to last three days, continues today in Butler County Common Pleas Judge Michael Sage’s courtroom.
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2168 or lpack@coxohio.com.
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