An Indian immigrant’s year and half long nightmare - a potential trial that could have ended with a prison sentence and likely deportation - ended Thursday when a Santa Clara County judge dropped charges against him because police withheld a key piece of their investigation.Jaspal Singh was accused of beating Balbir Singh at the Hindu Temple and Community Center in October 2005.
But according to court records, Sunnyvale police failed to reveal that the victim initially identified another man with the same name as his attacker.
Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Bryan Slater said he decided to dismiss the case due to a lack of evidence.
Judge Douglas K. Southard commended the district attorney’s office for dropping the charge.
Jaspal Singh and Balbir Singh are not related. They are Sikhs. For many Sikh men, Singh is a common last name. The name, which means “lion” in Punjabi, was actually mandated as the official surname for all Sikh men by the religion’s founder more than 500 years ago, to show that all men are created equally.
Like in English, where there are many Steves or Toms, first names such as Jaspal are common among Sikhs.
Balbir Singh was beaten by a group of men while attending a Punjabi concert at the center. They fractured his jaw and stole his jacket, an expensive work cell phone and the keys to a limousine he uses to make his living.
An ongoing dispute between Balbir Singh and his former roommate Jagwinder Singh over work and women sparked the fight, according to a police report.
Jagwinder Singh, who pleaded no contest Thursday to charges of unlawful fighting in a public place, told police the two only argued. He was arrested and charged with assault.
Balbir Singh provided an officer with a list of names of people - including for a Jaspal Singh - he thought might have attacked him.
Police pulled driver’s license photos of men with the same names. In a photo lineup Balbir Singh at first identified a different Jaspal Singh as one of his attackers. But officers failed to tell prosecutors of the earlier identification.
Questions about the strength of the case began almost immediately, according to Cameron Bowman, the accused Jaspal Singh’s attorney. An investigator’s interview with Balbir Singh had never been transcribed.
The district attorney’s office has requested Sunnyvale police to review what happened in the case because of the snafu. Sunnyvale police did not return phone calls Thursday.
By Leslie Griffy
Mercury News
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2 Responses:
June 23rd, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Ping
Somebody has to do something, and it’s just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us