Joan Bannan

Joan Bannan

Joan Bannan is the author of Perfect Gifts for nearly Perfect Men (how to buy gifts for men according to their personality type), and three business-related books. She is working on her first novel: Halfa Moon, a story about a young woman who lands a job at a company targeted by a murderous corporate spy and finds she is facing the trauma of her past. Joan is also a senior business manager at AT&T and an Independent Arbonne consultant district manager.

Joan can be reached at joan@bannan.com and <a href="http://just-joan.com">http://just-joan.com</a>

Juror No. 7

Sept. 27, 2010 Updated Dec. 2, 2011

Gurparkash Singh Khalsa

The author’s account of her role as jury foreperson at a 2010 murder trial in Stockton, California.

by Joan Bannan

Ajmer Singh Hothi, a 23-year-old trucker from Jalandhar, India was shot and killed in the cab of his parked big rig in Stockton, California on March 27, 2007. The weapon that killed him was a 9mm handgun that discharged nine bullets into the cab – six of those into Ajmer’s body. The one that entered his heart killed him instantly. He had been in the United States for 10 years, primarily residing with his parents. His mother and sister, who were in great fear for his life, had not been able to reach him for a couple of hours so they drove to the yard where he parked his truck. They found his lifeless body and called 911.

Four days after the murder, the San Joaquin Sherriff’s Department arrested Gurparkash Singh Khalsa, the father of Ajmer’s former girlfriend, Kirin Pannu. Several months later, the evidence, all circumstantial, was sent to a grand jury. After the four-day grand jury session, Khalsa was indicted on the charge of first-degree murder.

Fifty-eight year-old Khalsa, a prominent member of the local Sikh community and owner of a local trucking firm, avoided trial for three years by changing attorneys. In March 2010, a jury was selected for Khalsa’s murder trial. I would become Juror No. 7.