WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — 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.
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 an apartment on Wyndtree Drive.
Singh and his attorneys maintain his innocence, saying another person or persons are responsible for the mass family shooting. They are planning to present that evidence at trial.
The family members were all dead when West Chester Police arrived at the home 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.
Singh is a father of three young children who was a self-employed truck driver running his own company before his arrest. He's being held without bond in the Butler County Jail. He is a native of India but has been a United States citizen since 2009.
150 prospective jurors are expected to show up Monday for jury selection. Another 150 are scheduled for Tuesday, if necessary.
The prosecution lists more than 80 witnesses that may be called during the trial including police officers, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents, keepers of records from banks, United Airlines employees, cell phone company employees, 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 the 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.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.
READ MORE
Investigation concludes mother killed children, herself in January stabbing in Walton, Ky.
19-year-old parents plead guilty in death of 5-month-old son, abuse of 2-year-old son
Prosecutor: Man stabbed another to death, then raped a woman hours later
Watch Live:
