Grandmother, 66, found guilty in Maryland murder after claiming husband did it

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/grandmother-66-found-guilty-in-maryland-murder-after-claiming-husband-did-it/2016/11/10/f684bb66-a7a0-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html

 

 

 

 

Grandmother, 66, found guilty in Maryland murder after claiming husband did it

 

 

 

Grandmother, 66, found guilty in Md. murder of her husband’s ex-wife

 

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A Sept. 28, 2013, store surveillance video from inside a Tennessee gun store, shows Baldeo Taneja and Raminder Kaur shopping for guns. They bought two handguns from the shop that day, including a revolver the couple used to kill Taneja's ex-wife on Oct. 12, 2013.(Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office)

By Dan Morse November 11 

Raminder Kaur, a 66-year-old grandmother accused of gunning down her husband’s ex-wife with a snub-nose revolver, was convicted of first-degree murder in Montgomery County late Thursday by a jury that rejected her attorneys’ claim that it was her husband, acting alone, who fired the shots.

The verdict comes more than three years after the death of Preeta Gabba, 49, as she walked along a quiet street in Germantown, Md., to catch a bus to work on a Saturday morning.

In a 2014 trial, Kaur and her husband, a PhD-level biostatistician named Baldeo Taneja, 65. were tried together. Both were convicted of first-degree murder. The two, natives of India, had been in an Amway operation together, and were living in Tennessee. They were upset about alimony that Taneja still had to pay to his ex-wife.

After their convictions, both Kaur and Taneja moved to get new trials. Taneja’s effort is pending. But Kaur, based on a judge’s ruling that she had ineffective lawyering in 2014, was granted the new trial.

In the most recent case, Taneja was not at the defense table with Kaur. She did not testify, but her attorneys put forth a defense that Taneja committed the murder.

Baldeo Taneja and Raminder Kaur were tried together in 2014 in the slaying of his ex-wife. Both were convicted of first-degree murder, but a judge ordered a new trial for Kaur. (Tennessee law enforcement photos)

She showed little emotion Thursday evening as the jury announced its verdict: guilty on the murder charge, as well as guilty on conspiracy and handgun counts.

Kaur puts blame on husband

Preeta Gabba’s son: ‘She was the only family I had.’

Her second trial had begun early last week. Kaur will remain behind bars and will be sentenced at a later date.

“This was a coldblooded act,” said Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, noting the plotting and planning on the part of Kaur and Teneja. “Not only did they drive up here to execute the victim, they’d come up earlier to run surveillance on her movements. I am grateful that a jury has seen the truth of this matter — yet again.”

The murder goes back to October 2013.

That month, according to authorities, Kaur and Taneja got into their car in Nashville, drove to Maryland and checked into a Red Roof Inn. When they awoke, authorities say, they drove to the ex-wife’s neighborhood, where Kaur got out of the car to shoot her before the couple left, then made a quick appearance at an Amway conference and headed back to Tennessee.

Preeta Gabba (Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office)

Police soon caught up to them, finding in their car the alleged murder weapon, a second handgun, more than $3,000 in cash, hair dye, a wig and the packaging for a second wig, according to prosecutors. They contend that the couple used their stop at the Amway conference to create a cover story.

Earlier Thursday, the jury panel had sent a note to the judge saying they were having trouble reaching an agreement. But they kept going, eventually reaching a verdict.

In an interview after the verdict, one juror said the panel respected each other during the full day of deliberations. “All the jurors looked to achieve consensus,” he said.

They kept reviewing the evidence, and how Maryland law defined participation in a murder, according to the juror, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the deliberations.

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“She didn’t have to have pulled the trigger,” the juror said. “But this murder wasn’t a surprise to her. She was an active participant.”

Still, in the end, most of the jurors also felt she was the shooter, the juror said.

Why Raminder Kaur was given a new trial.

Immediately after Kaur’s first ­trial, top officials at the Maryland Public Defender’s Office stepped forward and asserted that one of their attorneys had provided poor representation to Kaur and contended that Kaur had wanted to testify, but that her attorney would not let her. The office asked for the new trial for Kaur.

Montgomery Circuit Court Judge Michael Mason agreed, ruling that part of the defense failings in the first trial resulted from the heavy workload carried by public defenders.