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.
After more than 14 hours of deliberation, the jury told Judge Howard they couldn't reach a decision just before noon Friday.
When asked if the prosecution will be retrying Singh, Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said, "Yes and hell yes."
Singh's lead attorney Charlie Rittgers said Singh wanted an acquittal but is content with this outcome as of now.
Gmoser — who is also disappointed with the outcome — believes denying jurors access to a testimony that was requested potentially crippled the ability to reach a verdict.
After Friday's outcome, two other jurors said they feel sick and that justice hasn't been served.
"It's a roller coaster," one juror said. "Disappointment. Dread. Sadness."
Gmoser also called out Judge Howard for bias and plans to ask him to recuse himself from the next trial. He said he's prepared to take the matter to the Ohio Supreme Court.
The victims' family members were emotional after it was announced it was a hung jury. They had been in and out of courtroom anxious during deliberation, and despite the hung jury said they will keep fighting and will be present for every day of the next trial.
One juror told WCPO that another juror who held up the process came into deliberation with her mind made up, and she could not be swayed.
Another juror said that the holdout was due to blood and DNA evidence, which is why the jury asked for the transcript of the BCI witness — the judge declined and told jurors to use their memories.
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. The jury also told the judge that Juror 83 felt unsafe because of the confrontations with Juror 111 in the jury room.
Singh's defense argued that juror 83 must remain a member of the jury because removing her is a violation of Ohio law and 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.
After meeting with each juror, the judge announced he didn't find any jury misconduct and denied the motion to remove jurors. He also denied the defense's request for a mistrial.
During the trial, prosecutors spent 10 days trying to convince jurors Singh pulled the trigger, while Singh's defense called just one witness to testify Wednesday morning.
During closing arguments, Butler County assistant prosecutors Josh Muennich and Jon Marshall told jurors Singh is the only possible killer.
The prosecution claimed Singh's marriage and finances unraveled due to a long-standing affair, and the night of the murders Singh arranged for his children to be kept away from the family's apartment.
Singh's cell phone and car GPS as well as Google data also put Singh inside his apartment minutes before the killings, the prosecution said.
Rittgers pushed back, and his closing arguments lasted four hours as he pushed reasons for reasonable doubt.
"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."
It is unclear when the prosecution will plan to retry Singh.
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