DUBLIN — A Fremont man who allegedly confessed to a 2020 deadly taking pictures is harmless, his legal professional claims, as a result of he was “taking the autumn” for his employer.
Kamalpreet Singh, 30, is on trial within the East County Corridor of Justice in Dublin, dealing with expenses of killing 32-year-old Anthony Garza on April 8, 2020. Prosecutors say they may show the case primarily based largely on Singh’s personal confession, but in addition the truth that the gunfire is seen on surveillance footage coming from his inexperienced 2002 Cadillac Escalade, and the truth that he fled the state for 5 months earlier than authorities tracked him down.
However in his opening assertion Monday, protection legal professional Ernie Castillo informed jurors that his consumer, “didn't commit this offense,” and that the true perpetrator was Singh’s employer at an space trucking firm.
“There shall be plenty of questions on why Mr. Singh admitted to one thing he didn't do, however the essence of it's to guard his household,” Castillo stated in courtroom Monday. He stated Singh’s employer had threatened to hurt him and relations and that Singh felt too scared to inform police what actually occurred.
Singh was arrested in September 2020, 5 months after he allegedly shot and killed Garza on the Mowry East Buying Heart in Fremont. After his arrest, Singh allegedly not solely informed police, “I killed a human” however named his employer as the one that put him as much as it, prosecutors wrote in courtroom data. A police possible trigger assertion says Singh admitted he and Garza had fought a 12 months earlier than.
However Castillo stated Singh had no motive to hurt Garza, and that eyewitnesses — together with a girl who knew Garza — denied to police that Singh was the shooter, even after analyzing his image in a photograph lineup. He stated Singh’s employer helped him purchase the Cadillac and had an additional set of keys to the automotive.
In courtroom papers, prosecutors have stated that Singh claimed his employer supplied him cash to kill Garza, and allege that Singh returned to the scene of the crime just a few days later, to observe a memorial for Garza from a close-by restaurant. He then fled to New York, then to Colorado, earlier than being taken into custody.
Singh has been in Santa Rita Jail in Dublin ever since, on a no bail maintain. His trial is anticipated to take a number of weeks, and Castillo informed jurors to count on Singh to take the witness stand.