WEST CHESTER TWP., Ohio — The second trial for a man accused of murdering his wife and three other family members in West Chester on April 28, 2019 looks a little differently than the first.
This time, instead of a jury of his peers, a three-judge panel will decide the fate of 40-year-old Gurpreet Singh. That panel is comprised of Butler County Common Pleas Judge Greg Howard, who presided over Singh's first trial, Keith Spaeth and Greg Stephens.
Singh, a former truck driver, is charged with four counts of aggravated murder for allegedly killing his wife Shalinderjit Kaur, 39; his in-laws, Hakikat Singh Pannag, 59, and Parmjit Kaur, 62; and his aunt-in-law, Amarjit Kaur.
In the first trial, which took place in October 2022, the jury was not able to come to a unanimous decision, leading to a hung jury after more than 14 hours of deliberation.
This time around, Singh's defense attorneys are taking a different approach than the team he hire for the first trial.
"Gurpreet is here, quite simply, because he lied," said Singh's attorney, Alex Deardorff. "There's no way around that. He lied to the police."
In the first trial, prosecutors showed the victims' blood, gunshot residue and DNA could all be found on Singh that night, while GPS evidence could place him in the apartment complex's parking lot at 9:03 p.m., despite Singh's claims to police that he'd just come home and found his family dead before calling 911 at 9:42 p.m.
Now, Deardorff claims Singh lied to police and was in the apartment that night — but as a witness to the murders, who'd simply lied to police who looked no further once they discovered that lie.
Assistant Prosecutor Jon Marshall argued — like was argued in Singh's first trial — that Singh had plenty of motive to want his family dead.
At the time of the homicides, Singh was having an affair with a woman in Indianapolis whom he gave $20,000 cash to purchase a house, bought a car and paid a mortgage, Marshall said, pointing to motive.
Additionally, there was a strained relationship between Singh and his father-in-law with evidence of hostile demands by Singh to Hakikat for money, according to prosecutors.
"You will see photographs of Gurpreet's footprints that are bloody, basically giving you a road map of where he walked in the apartment and in the hallways," said Deardorff. "Yet, you will not see evidence that any of those prints were on the patio where said murder weapon was thrown from. You will not hear evidence that the gun recovered contained Gurpreet's DNA, and they recovered the gun."
Similarly to Singh's defense attorney's claims in the first trial, Deardorff pointed to a former business partner of Hakikat's as the culprit behind the murders. She said Hakikat had been in an ongoing land dispute with men in India concerning payments on land under development.
Just as in a jury trial, the verdict by a three-judge panel in the guilt phase must be unanimous. In the mitigation phase, the verdict among the judges must be unanimous for death, if it is not, the ruling is life without the possibility of parole, 25 years to life or 30 years to life, according to prosecutors.
Singh has been housed in the Butler County jail without bond since his arrest months after the murders took place.
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