Gupreet Singh (left inset) in a Butler County Jail mug shot (right) in court hearing Ohio judges condemn him to death (WLWT/screegrab)
An Ohio man who survived his first bout with prosecutors thanks to a mistrial wasn’t nearly as fortunate the second time around, as a three-judge panel has condemned him to death for murdering his wife, in-laws, and his wife’s aunt in 2019, shooting the victims a total of 16 times and each of them in the head.
Butler County Common Pleas Court Judges Keith Spaeth, Greg Stephens, and Gregory Howard agreed Tuesday that 41-year-old Gupreet Singh should face capital punishment for the aggravated murders of his wife Shalinderjit Kaur, 39, his wife’s aunt Amarjit Kaur, 58, his father-in-law Hakiakat Singh Pannag, 59, and mother-in-law Parmjit Kaur, 62, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Shalinderjit Kaur, Hakiakat Singh Pannag, Parmjit Kaur, and Amarjit Kaur (WLWT/screengrab)
The indictment alleged that Singh premeditated the deaths of his wife and her family members and used a gun, which investigators later found dumped in a pond behind the defendant’s residence in West Chester Township. At trial, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, prosecutors in Butler County focused on Singh’s spiral out of control financially and his carrying on of an affair with a woman, gifting her a pricy SUV and handing her $20,000 to help pay for a home in Indianapolis.
The defense reportedly attempted to argue an alternate perpetrator theory — claiming that Singh saw an unidentified person shoot the victims — but those suggestions fell short in the face of prosecutors who said — and judges who were persuaded — that it was clear that the defendant, and the defendant alone, was guilty of quadruple murder.
“That train has left the station,” Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser reportedly commented on defense innocence assertions. Prosecutors reportedly emphasized that Singh’s financial demise was what motivated him to murder his father-in-law first, considering that the two had argued about money, WLWT reported. From there, authorities said, the defendant shot his wife, mother-in-law, and his wife’s aunt, one by one.
When the capital verdict was read in court on Tuesday, Singh stood up and looked on as the judges condemned him to die.
“We this three-judge panel do hereby unanimously find that the aggravating circumstance that the defendant was found guilty of committing does outweigh the mitigating factors presented in this case by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. We, therefore, unanimously find that the sentence of death should be imposed upon Gupreet Singh,” the court concluded.
The court docket shows that Singh has another court date on the afternoon of May 22, one day earlier than previously expected.
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