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Thread: Death Penalty Retrial Set for Gurpreet Singh in 2019 OH Quadruple Murder

  1. #11
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    Defense for man accused in quadruple homicide wants prosecution, public left out of funding request

    Attorneys for a man accused of shooting four family members to death in a West Chester Twp. apartment want prosecutors excluded from being heard on request made to spend taxpayer money on experts.

    It is a matter of trial strategy, according Gurpreet Singh’s defense team.

    Singh is scheduled to be back in Butler County Common Pleas court Monday for a pretrial hearing about defense experts. The hearing follows weeks of legal wrangling after the defense team, which was retained, requested public money to hire defense experts in the death penalty case.

    Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser objected to Judge Greg Howard’s decision in which the judge stated he would consider specific requests filed by the defense for experts, but would not give the defense team a blank check.

    Defense replies to objection to public funds decision in West Chester quadruple homicide case

    A team of attorneys from Rittgers and Rittgers were retained by Singh family members at the time of his arrest in 2019, but they no longer have the funding to pay additional experts the defense says is needed.

    A terse response was filed by the defense to Gmoser’s objection, which prompted another pointed response from Gmoser.

    ‘I don’t know, everybody bleeding’: Video of West Chester homicides suspect shown for the first time

    Singh, 39, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder for the April 28, 2019, homicides. With specifications of using a firearm and killing two or more persons, Singh faces the death penalty if convicted.

    Singh is accused of killing his wife, Shalinderjit Kaur, 39; his in-laws, Hakikat Singh Pannag, 59, and Parmjit Kaur, 62; and his aunt by marriage, Amarjit Kaur, 58, at their residence on Wyndtree Drive. All died with gunshot wounds.

    Gmoser objected to the decision in a motion for reconsideration, stating the decision sets a precedent for allowing defense counsel to charge attorney fees that are equal to the defendant’s total assets then request public funds to pay for a mitigation expert, private investigators and forensic experts.

    Prosecutors said that prior to his arrest, Singh was employed as an owner-operator of a semi-tractor trailer, which is typically valued at $75,000 and $175,000, and that he had at least 1 bank account with a balance of $75,052.31 and owned real estate in Indianapolis valued at $330,180. Prosecutors also say the defense team has been paid $250,000, according to court documents.

    Singh’s defense team responded to Gmoser’s motion, noting the request for public funds does not pertain to attorney fees, but for investigation and experts only.

    After a hearing earlier this month, Howard did not change his mind. The judge said he doesn’t like the decision he made, but the last thing he wants is to try the case and have an appellate court overturn the outcome, finding he should have approved money to hire experts.

    Now Howard will consider the motion concerning defense expert witnesses and if that request should be open to the public and the prosecution.

    Defense Attorney Neal Schuett said in the motion that any requests and consideration for expert funding should take place without the prosecution or public present.

    Schuett wrote. “The defendant seeks the ability approach the court ex parte as to any additional funds and/or requests for access to the defendant while he is in custody unencumbered by the state of Ohio, who has no right to know the trial strategies and every move of the defense while investigating and defending his life.”

    The defense argued it can not adequately address costs, investigative needs, trial and mitigation strategies and other sensitive information with the prosecution or the media watching.

    Prosecutors say ex parte proceedings in criminal cases are “contrary to the most basic concepts of American justice and should not be permitted except possibility in most extraordinary cases involving national security.”

    Assistant Prosecutor Jon Marshall also raised a concern that the defendant will used the ex parte hearings as a way to further delay the disclosure requirement of law.

    The prosecution has provided the defense with discovery, but the defense has yet to provide “a single item of reciprocal discovery,” he wrote.

    Marshall questions if the defense has in two years produced any discoverable evidence despite saying Singh is innocent.

    “In fact, on multiple occasions counsel for the defendant has expressly commented to the local news media that the defendant is ‘absolutely innocent.’ If defense counsel has evidence that the defendant is innocent (and not merely not guilty) one would imagine such evidence would be disclosed immediately so that it could be reviewed and possibly lead to the defendant’s exoneration and release from jail. No such disclosure has been made to date,” Marshall wrote.

    The assistant prosecutor added the state has a vested interest in avoiding prosecuting an innocent man.

    “Hiding the possibility of such evidence under the cloak of an ex parte meeting with the court and saving the evidence for trial Oct. 2022 seems counterintuitive The state does not want the request for ex parte ability to pay experts to serve as a shield against the defendant’s duty to provide reciprocal discovery in a timely manner,” Marshall said in the court document.

    (source: Dayton Daily News)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #12
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    3 years after a quadruple murder, death penalty trial appears to be on track for fall

    3 years after the shooting death of 4 family members in a West Chester Twp. apartment, the man accused of their murders will likely stand trial in October.

    Gurpreet Singh, 39, is charged with 4 counts of aggravated murder for the April 28, 2019, homicides. With specifications of using a firearm and killing 2 or more persons, Singh faces the death penalty if convicted.

    Singh was back in Butler County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday for a pretrial hearing where the defense team and prosecutors said exchange of discovery is proceeding and preparation for the Oct. 3 trial is ongoing.

    Judge Greg Howard said he will order 150 prospective jurors for the 1st day of selection and another 150 for the 2nd day if necessary.

    Questionnaires to the jury pool are set to be mailed next month. The defense team has argued those forms should include a question about the person’s views on the death penalty, and the current from does not.

    Howard said he would give the defense latitude during voir dire to inquire about the death penalty.

    Singh is scheduled to be back in court July 13 for a final pre-trial hearing.

    Singh is accused of killing his wife, Shalinderjit Kaur, 39; his in-laws, Hakikat Singh Pannag, 59, and Parmjit Kaur, 62; and his aunt by marriage, Amarjit Kaur, 58, at their residence on Wyndtree Drive. All died with gunshot wounds.

    (source: Dayton Daily News)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #13
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    Three years after four members of a West Chester family were killed, suspect set to stand trial

    By Karin Johnson

    After waiting more than three years, a West Chester man accused of murdering his wife and three other family members is about to go on trial.

    Gurpreet Singh was back in a Butler County courtroom Wednesday afternoon for a final scheduled hearing before the trial starts on Oct. 3.

    Singh is charged with four counts of aggravated murder.

    He is accused of murdering his wife, Shalinderjit Kaur, and her parents, Hakiakat Singh Pannag and Parmjit Kaur. Shalinderjit Kaur's aunt, Amarjit Kaur, was also killed inside a West Chester apartment in April 2019.

    About 70 potential witnesses have been subpoenaed to testify. They include West Chester police officers, agents with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal investigation, neighbors of Singh's who lived in the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex in 2019, records keepers of several banks as well as friends.

    Three hundred people were sent jury questionnaires. During Wednesday's hearing, Judge Gregory Howard excused some jurors from the pool for various reasons, including medical and health issues, students who attend college out of town and people who no longer live in Butler County.

    The trial is scheduled to last three weeks, and it will be held in a new courtroom that is double the size of most of the others. This will accommodate members of the public who wish to attend.

    If found guilty, Singh could face the death penalty.

    He maintains his innocence.

    https://www.wlwt.com/article/car-cra...scape/41243608

  4. #14
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    After 3 years, Gurpreet Singh’s quadruple death-penalty trial starts today

    By Lauren Pack

    After sitting in the Butler County Jail for three years during legal wrangling and a pandemic that prompted multiple delays, Gurpreet Singh will finally face a jury this week in his death penalty trial for allegedly shooting and killing four family members in 2019 in West Chester Twp.

    Singh, 40, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder for the April 28, 2019, homicides. With specifications of using a firearm and killing two or more persons, Singh faces the death penalty if convicted.

    Singh is accused of killing his wife, Shalinderjit Kaur, 39; his in-laws, Hakikat Singh Pannag, 59, and Parmjit Kaur, 62; and his aunt by marriage, Amarjit Kaur, 58, at their residence on Wyndtree Drive.

    Singh and his attorneys maintain his innocence, saying another person is or persons are responsible for the mass family shooting. They are planning to present that evidence at trial.

    Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Greg Howard will preside over the trial beginning today, but proceedings will be held in the recently completed super courtroom that has seating for more spectators and an upgraded sound system.

    The family members were all dead when West Chester Police arrived at the Wyndtree Drive after Singh called 911.

    Singh was outside in the stairwell covered in blood crying that his family was bleeding. He was questioned for hours by police, but released.

    He was indicted in August 2019 and arrested in Connecticut.

    The father of three young children who was a self-employed truck driver running his own company before his arrest, Singh is being held without bond in the Butler County Jail. He is a native of India but has been a United States citizen since 2009.

    Howard has ordered 150 prospective jurors for the first day of selection and another 150 for the second day if necessary. Voir dire is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. The trial is expected to last three weeks.

    Prosecutors have filed a motion for the jury to view several locations near the crime scene at 4562 Wyndtree Drive, Apt. 154 including the parking lot to the west side of the building, the breezeway on the first floor walking up to the apartment, the mulch area at the end of the breezeway facing the pond and the back porch area.

    Other areas near the pond that police searched the day after the homicides are also part of the jury view request.

    It appears the defense will present evidence of an alternative suspect during the trial and file motions to make the court compel the appearance of several witnesses who are “material to identify an alternative suspect.”

    Prosecutors have filed a motion block the alternative suspect evidence or, in the alternative, hold a prior hearing.

    In a motion, prosecutors asked the judge to exclude the defense from introducing evidence of an alternate suspect because, “the defendant has failed to proffer any such evidence much less establish the requisite nexus between any alleged alternate suspect and the charged murders.”

    Ohio courts apply case law routinely that alternate suspect evidence is only admissible if the defense can produce evidence that tends to directly connect the other person with the actual crime, the prosecution says in its motion.

    The defense responded, saying the state’s motion is a misapplication of the Ohio rules of evidence “(and) flagrantly disregards both procedural and substantive due process, particularly by attempting reverse the presumption of innocence.”

    Subpoena issuing began last month and includes police officers, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents, keepers of records from banks, United Airlines, cell phone companies, and local, Indiana and Kentucky residents.

    The prosecution lists more than 80 witnesses that may be called during the trial that police officers, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents, keepers of records from banks, United Airlines, cell phone companies, and local, Indiana and Kentucky residents.

    Hotel rooms have been booked and security arranged if the jury should require sequestration. By law, in a death penalty case, the jury must be sequestered during deliberations. If the defendant is convicted they are also required to be sequestered while deliberating a penalty recommendation following the mitigation phase.

    If the defendant is convicted, the jury will consider recommendation of one of five penalties, including death, life in prison without parole, 20 years to life, 25 years to life or 30 years to life. It is up to the judge to decide whether or not to follow the jury’s recommendation and ultimately impose the sentence.

    https://www.journal-news.com/crime/a...COXQOJD7M52H4/
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  5. #15
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    Opening statements to begin in West Chester quadruple murder trial

    The defendant, Gurpreet Singh, faces four counts of aggravated murder for allegedly killing four family members.

    By Jennifer Edwards Baker

    WEST CHESTER, Ohio (WXIX) - Opening statements will begin Wednesday in the capital murder trial of a man accused of gunning down his wife, her parents and her aunt in Butler County more than three years ago.

    Jury selection began on Monday and was finalized as of Tuesday night, court officials confirmed.

    Now, prosecutors are expected to reveal money and an affair motivated Gurpreet Singh to kill his wife, her parents, and her aunt at the Lakefront at West Chester apartment complex on Wyndtree Drive on April 28, 2019.

    But first, jurors will travel from the courtroom in downtown Hamilton to West Chester to see the crime scene.

    The victims are: Singh’s wife, Shalinderjit Kaur, 39; his mother-in-law, Parmjit Kaur, 62; his father-in-law, Hakiakat Singh Pannag, 59 and his wife’s aunt, Amarjit Kaur, 58.

    Singh, 40, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of aggravated murder.

    The trial is expected to take two to three weeks.

    If convicted, Singh could face the death penalty.

    On the night of the killings, West Chester police questioned Singh as a witness but did not take him into custody or arrest him.

    Singh called 911 around 10 p.m.that night and told a dispatcher he came home and found four relatives on the ground, bleeding from the head.

    “They’re all down..... No one’s talking. No one’s talking,” he said on the call, which was released to FOX19 NOW through a public record request. “They’re bleeding.”

    Singh was arrested in Connecticut less than three months later, in July 2019, and indicted the following month.

    His trial has been delayed multiple times, however, so that Singh, who speaks English and Punjabi, could get an interpreter in court and also due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to court records.

    His attorneys have argued in legal filings that another person or persons killed his family.

    Prosecutors are fighting to keep details about that out of court, according to a state motion, one the defense rebutted in their own motion.

    Prosecutors have amassed an extensive witness list of about 50 people they can call to the stand to help them lay out their case against Singh, court records show.

    Witnesses include West Chester and Mason police, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and FBI agents and employees of United Airlines, cell phone companies and more.

    The defense has about a dozen witnesses they could call to the stand.

    Singh’s attorneys are listed in court records as Neil Schuett, Charles M. Rittgers and John Bernans.

    Citing health reasons, Singh’s most experienced litigator, Charles H. Rittgers, 71, withdrew from the trial in August.

    Taxpayers are footing the bill for Singh’s legal expenses because he was declared indigent and this is a death penalty case.

    Due to a recent ruling by the judge overseeing the case, Greg Howard, taxpayers also are paying for experts to assist his legal team.

    And, public money also will fund the travel expenses of Singh’s family so they can fly to the U.S. from India.

    On Sept, 21, the judge granted a defense motion for $6,000 for Singh’s father and mother as well as his “religious Guru” so they can be here to offer testimony on his behalf “in the Sentencing Phase of the case, should that phase be necessary,” court records state.

    All this taxpayer money that may be spent on the death penalty portion of this trial, if Singh is convicted, ultimately could be a moot point.

    The death penalty in Ohio has been on hold for nearly two years and now there is proposed legislation to kill it for good.

    Gov. Mike DeWine halted capital punishment in 2020, saying there weren’t enough lethal injection drugs available unless state lawmakers pick an alternative execution method.

    That’s something lawmakers have not done. In fact, there is now legislation proposed in both the House and Senate to abolish the death penalty in Ohio.

    A lawmaker from Greater Cincinnati, State Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) and State Rep. Adam Miller (D-Columbus) are the main sponsors of House Bill 183.

    Three Cincinnati Democrats are among the many co-sponsors: State Reps. Brigid Kelly, Sedrick Denson and Catherine Ingram.

    House Bill 183 is not expected to make it to the House floor for a vote until about mid-2023.

    A similar bill, SB 103, is proposed in Ohio’s Senate.

    The General Assembly is not scheduled to hold voting sessions again until after the November election.

    The last prisoner put to death in Ohio was a local man, Robert Van Hook, 58, of Sharonville.

    He was executed on July 18, 2018, more than 30 years after murdering a man he met in a bar in downtown Cincinnati in what prosecutors say was a particularly vicious and gruesome slaying.

    https://www.fox19.com/2022/10/05/ope...outputType=amp
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  6. #16
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    State rests in Gurpreet Singh death penalty trial; judge denies defense motion to dismiss

    Man faces death penalty if convicted in West Chester quadruple homicide case

    By Lauren Peck
    Dayton Daily News

    HAMILTON — The prosecution rested Monday in the Gurpreet Singh death penalty trial after calling more than 30 witnesses during nine days of testimony in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

    The 40-year-old former truck driver is charged with four counts of aggravated murder for allegedly shooting and killing his wife Shalinderjit Kaur, 39; his in-laws, Hakikat Singh Pannag, 59, and Parmjit Kaur, 62; and his aunt-in-law, Amarjit Kaur, 58, at a West Chester Twp. apartment on April 28, 2019.

    On Tuesday, outside the presence of the jury, the defense requested a dismissal of the charges against Singh, arguing the prosecution had not proven its case. Judge Greg Howard denied the dismissal.

    The defense is expected to call at least one expert witness on Wednesday.

    Prosecutors say Singh murdered his family by shooting them all in the head after a longtime affair and a strained relationship with his in-laws over money from land owned in India.

    Jurors heard from the mistress, Navkiran Kaur, now 35, remarried and a recent mother of a new baby.

    Kaur said she met Singh in 2011 through her ex-husband who, like Singh, was a semi-truck driver. She and Singh were friendly and eventually they began a romantic sexual relationship. She said she knew Singh was married and had met his wife and children.

    The prosecution pointed to thousand of dollars Singh spent on the woman in Indianapolis, including $20,000 for Kaur to purchase a house in a neighborhood where he bought a house for himself and a Audi car give to Kaur.

    A download of Singh’s cell phone by a forensic specialist showed there were 183 calls or messages between the two between December 2018 and April 28, 2019.

    After her divorce, Kaur said Singh asked her if she would marry him if he was single.

    The defense says Singh is innocent and the killings were part of a professional hit due to Pannag’s financial woes and a dubious land contract deal in India with the “land mafia.” They say three masked men broke into the apartment with baseball bats and Singh ran for his life. When he returned, everyone was dead.

    Singh is the person who called 911 on the night of April 28, 2019 telling dispatchers he came home and found his family bleeding. He waited for West Chester Police to arrive and cooperated when the found him crying and covered with blood in the breezeway of the Wyndtree Drive apartment complex.

    Witnesses, including family members who characterized Singh as a loving father and not a violent man, police officers who interviewed for hours and neighbors alerted by his frantic pounding on doors the night of the killings, all said the defendant never said anything about intruders with baseball bats.

    In police interview tapes played for the jury, Singh was hysterical and crying two hours after his family was killed and asking for officers to check on his three children.

    Singh said that is when he went to work on his semi truck, parked on Muhlhauser Road. As dark set in, Singh said he drove home, stopping at a nearby UDF for gas.

    “I come back, I see my mom, I see my wife ... I shake them,” Singh said while crying. He said he tried to get them to talk and drink water, but got not response.

    Singh told the detectives he had no problems between his wife or in-laws. When asked if he had been faithful to his wife, Singh answered, “always faithful, no problems.”

    Farris asked if Singh had any idea who would harm his family.

    “I know me and my family did nothing wrong to anyone,” Singh answers. “If I knew, you would know by now.”

    When Farris told Singh it appeared his family was shot, he began to get agitated.

    “I want to go home right now ... why didn’t anyone tell me they were shot?” Singh asked when Farris told him they were going to do a gunshot residue test on his hands.

    That’s when Farris read Singh his rights and told him they will get a search warrant to take the evidence from his person.

    “I want to go to my kids,” Singh said. “I want my lawyer.”

    Former FBI Special Agent Kevin Horan, a cellular phone data expert, testified his analysis of data from Singh’s cell phone indicates he was at the Wyndtree Drive apartment at 9:11 p.m. the night of the murders. Singh called 911 about 9:40 p.m.

    One of the alternate suspects pointed to by the defense, Maninder Sekhon, testified Monday along with his sister, Harmanjot Sekhon. The brother and sister are Singh’s cousins, but Maninder and Singh referred to each other as brothers.

    The defense characterized the Sekhons’ father as a man with legal difficulties in the U.S. and India who tangled with Hakikat Singh Pannag for years over a land dispute.

    The Sekhons now live in Florida, but in April 2019, they lived minutes away from Singh. Harmanjot said on the day of the murders, she attended dance class with Singh’s three children and his wife, then returned to the Wyndtree Drive residence. That’s when she and Maninder decided to take the children to an Indian restaurant for dinner and then to UDF for ice cream, she said.

    The brother and sister returned to the parking lot on Wyndtree Drive shortly before 9 p.m. to drop off the children. Harmanjot said she talked by phone to Singh and he told her he would pick up the children at their apartment. Harmanjot said the children then went to her apartment and began watching a movie. They never when home.

    Harmanjot said Singh and his children lived with them for weeks after the murders. Singh was not indicted until August for the murders.

    Maninder’s testimony mirrored his sister’s, but he was asked pointed questions about his and his father’s possible involvement in the murders.

    He said his father is a real estate developer and not part of the “land mafia” in India. In fact, he said until this trial he has never heard the term. He said he is not involved in anyway in the murder and neither is his father.

    During cross examination, Maninder said he’s in a tough spot testifying and agreed that Singh loved his kids and would never kill his family.

    https://www.daytondailynews.com/crim...CYP4O56ZBAM3A/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #17
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    Hung jury in quadruple murder trial of Gurpreet Singh

    Gurpreet Singh was on trial for 4 counts of aggravated murder

    By Larry Seward
    WCPO News

    HAMILTON, Ohio — The jury in the trial of Gurpreet Singh was not able to come to a unanimous decision leading to a hung jury, Judge Gregory Howard said.

    A hung jury typically leads to either a mistrial or a retrial. The prosecution said they will retry Singh, but they did not specify when that will happen.

    The hung jury comes after hours of deliberation in the quadruple murder trial. Court began Friday with a hearing regarding multiple issues with two jurors.

    The prosecution called for the removal of two jurors, number 111 and number 83, from the panel.

    The prosecution said 10 members of the jury agreed that jurors 111 and 83 are making it nearly impossible to deliberate because they are "aggressive (and) screaming at each other over petty nonsense." Some of the other jurors accused juror 83 of "bending instructions to facilitate her beliefs. "

    The prosecution said that juror 111 allegedly raised his voice and is being rude to juror 83. There was also another note from jurors given to Judge Gregory Howard that said Juror 83 felt unsafe because of the confrontations with Juror 111 in the jury room.

    The prosecution also said both jurors asked to be dismissed. The prosecution is asking that two alternate jurors be brought in to continue deliberation.

    Singh's defense argued that juror 83 must remain a member of the jury because removing her is a violation of Ohio law. According to the defense, the disagreement stems from the evidence and removing her would be a violation of Singh's constitutional rights.

    The defense also argued that if juror 111 engaged in coercive and bullying behavior against juror 83, it wouldn't be fair to remove her since she is a victim of this type of behavior.

    Judge Howard met privately with each juror in his chambers, and one lawyer from both the prosecution and defense was present as was the court reporter.

    Shortly after 10:30 a.m. Friday the judge announced that he doesn't find any jury misconduct and denied the motion to remove jurors. He also denied the defense's request for a mistrial.

    The jury started deliberations Wednesday afternoon. Thursday afternoon jurors told Judge Howard they were not able to unanimously reach a verdict yet. Howard asked if there was a possibility the jurors could reach an agreement after additional time, to which the foreperson said yes.

    "Very well then, I want you to go back into the jury room and I want you to continue with your deliberations," Howard said.

    After 14 hours of deliberating Thursday, the judge sent the jurors back to their hotel rooms.

    Family of the four killed have been in and out of the courtroom, anxious for a verdict. Garry Hans, whose mother Amarjit was killed in the shooting, said he could not sleep the night before, but seeing handfuls of people from Cincinnati's Sikh community support them brings some relief.

    "It means a lot (that) like whole Sikh community from Cincinnati and other places, they come and help us," Hans said. "And some people they come, they calling us and they're (watching) the news. They're watching live trial and they're sending blessings to us."

    Between sessions, family members said they have been going to their temple to pray.

    Prosecutors spent 10 days trying to convince jurors Singh pulled the trigger, while Singh's defense called just one witness to testify Wednesday morning.

    Christopher Robinson, a former crime lab director for the City of Atlanta, runs a forensics consulting firm hired to be a blood spatter expert for the defense. Robinson told jurors he reviewed evidence reports made by Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents.

    Based on DNA, Gurpeet Singh could not be the killer, Robinson testified. Investigators found blood on the clothes Singh wore that night. However, it contained only a confirmed DNA profile that belonged to Shalinderjit.

    "In my opinion, I think it'd be impossible for a shooter to come in here and shoot four people and only have one person's DNA and (that) can be accounted for by him holding his wife because he found them," Robinson told jurors. "There's no way, no evidence to conclude that Gurpreet was the shooter of these victims."

    Prosecutors attacked Robinson's credentials and credibility. When questioned on the stand, Robinson admitted he'd been fired from his job with the Atlanta crime lab.

    During closing arguments, Butler County assistant prosecutors Josh Muennich and Jon Marshall told jurors Singh is the only possible killer.

    Prosecutors said Singh's marriage and finances unraveled because he spent almost $45,000 on a long-standing affair with a woman in Indianapolis named Navkiran Kaur. Singh's family found out and planned to keep money from a land deal in India away from Gurpreet, prosecutors told jurors.

    The night of the murders, April 28, 2019, prosecutors said Singh arranged to have his cousins keep his three children away from the family's apartment.

    Cell phone, car GPS and Google data also put Singh inside his apartment minutes before the killings, Muennich told jurors. Prosecutors claim the killer shot victims from behind, suggesting the shooter was not a stranger to those killed.

    "All the evidence in this case leads to one person and one person only and that's this defendant," Muennich told the jury during closing arguments. "Ladies and gentlemen that's why he is guilty beyond any doubt of committing the crime of aggravated murder."

    Singh's lead attorney, Charlie Rittgers, pushed back.

    "None of three of (the victims') blood is on Gurpreet Singh," Rittgers told jurors. "None. Hakiakat, Parmjit, Amarjit. None of it. You (saw) how gory these crime scene photos are and the back spatter that would be created and yet there's none on Gurpreet. None of it."

    Closing arguments lasted four hours with Rittgers pushing 14 reasons for reasonable doubt.

    "They're trying to kill a man," he told Rittgers said during closing arguments. "They are resting their case on the fact that Gurpreet was not completely, openly honest by openly speaking with police about every detail of what happened. We're in the United States of America. We're in the United States of America. You don't have to talk to the police. Lying to the police is not a crime and it's not a reason to convict a person of murder."

    "(The victims) were alive until he got home," Marshall told the jury. "That is the one uncontroverted fact in this case that cannot be explained away that can't be addressed with fantastical, rhetorical questions, what ifs, or anything else. The simple truth of this case is that at 9:09 p.m. this defendant arrived in the parking lot and by 9:11 p.m. he was inside that apartment and those four innocent people, they were alive."

    https://www.wcpo.com/news/local-news...uld-come-today
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #18
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Juror 83 is either a Black woman or a Hindu. I think.
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #19
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Edited:

    2024 retrial set in West Chester Twp. quadruple homicide case

    By Lauren Peck
    Dayton Daily News

    HAMILTON — The retrial of a West Chester Twp. man accused of the 2019 killings of his wife and three family members will not happen until 2024.

    Gurpreet Singh, who faces the death penalty if convicted, was in Butler County Common Pleas Court on Friday with court-appointed attorneys David Washington and Jeremy Evans. Judge Greg Howard set trial for April 29, 2024, and it is scheduled to last four weeks.

    A third defense attorney, Lawrence Hawkins III, was approved and added to the the defense team. Hawkins is volunteering his time as training toward certification by the state to defend death penalty cases.

    Washington filed a motion requesting a third death-certified attorney be appointed to the defense team because of the “voluminous amount of discovery.”

    Washington said the third attorney would be unpaid.

    “There is so much information we have to process, so if we can get another person who is certified as a death penalty attorney ... I want to try to get them involved so they can help us out,” Washington told the Journal-News. “And I didn’t want economics to be a part of it, so they have agreed to a third attorney on this capital case without being compensated.”

    In Ohio, to be first chair in a capital case, you have to have at least two death penalty cases litigated as second chair, Washington said.

    “We need more first-chair certified in Butler County. It is for the experience and the certification ...,” Washington said.

    Singh remains housed in the Butler County Jail without bond.

    In October, after a three-week trial with nearly two weeks of testimony and 14 hours of deliberation, Howard declared a mistrial when the jury indicated it was hung and did not believe any further deliberations would serve a useful purpose.

    After the mistrial, Singh’s retained attorneys from Rittgers and Rittgers law firm were permitted to withdraw from his case. Howard then appointed Washington and Evans, who have specialized training in capital cases, to represent Singh.

    https://www.daytondailynews.com/crim...DNZL4FYSUTFOU/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #20
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
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    Today Singh waived his right to a jury trial.

    His conviction and sentence will now be solely in the hands of the judge

    https://www.journal-news.com/crime/g...-df0ff7936d06/
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

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