Marcus Turner

Marcus Turner, right, is on trial in Summit County Common Pleas Court.

(Adam Ferrise, cleveland.com)

AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man accused of fatally shooting a 21-year-old man he thought burglarized his home went on trial Tuesday for the second time in three years.

Marcus Turner, 39, is charged with murder and felonious assault in the Sept. 12, 2013 shooting of Amandeep Singh, 21. The case is being heard by Retired Visiting Judge H.F. Inderlied in Summit County Common Pleas Court.

A jury in 2013 deadlocked on the murder and felonious assault charges and prosecutors elected to try the case again. The jury found Turner not guilty of aggravated murder and guilty of possessing a weapon as a felon. He was sentenced to three years in prison for the gun conviction.

Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Jon Baumoel said Tuesday during his opening statement that Turner arrived home from his job at Summit Plastics the day before the shooting and noticed that someone broke into his apartment.

A television, Nintendo Wii video game system and a computer were stolen. Turner reported the break-in to police and named Singh and another man, Carlton Smith, 30, as the people he thought robbed him.

Turner's neighbor told him that she saw Smith and Singh leave his apartment with grocery bags earlier in the day.

The case was turned over to detectives. Baumoel said Turner got angry that Smith and Singh weren't immediately arrested. He said that Turner went over to Smith's apartment later that day with a gun. Nothing happened because Smith refused to go outside.

"He was seeking vengeance," Baumoel said. "He wanted wanted revenge. And he ended up obtaining revenge."

Smith and Singh walked out of Smith's apartment about 10:45 p.m. to buy cigarettes. Smith told police he saw Turner lurking around a corner with a gun and heard gunshots as he ran back to his apartment.

Baumoel said Turner fired several gunshots at Singh. One hit him in the buttocks. A second bullet went through the left side of his lower back and out his right thigh, severing a major artery.

Singh was taken to a hospital where he died about an hour later.

Baumoel said that prosecutors have cellphone records that put Turner at the scene. He also said a man visiting a neighbor will testify that he saw someone wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with a gun standing over Singh after the initial gunshot.

Surveillance video from a motel where Turner was staying shows him leaving the motel with a black hooded sweatshirt, Baumoel said.

Smith will also testify.

Baumoel said Smith is a career criminal who is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for burglary and receiving stolen property. Baumoel said prosecutors offered him a reduced sentence in exchange for testifying.

Defense attorney Don Hicks said Smith's testimony is the prosecutor's only real evidence. He said Smith's testimony will be suspect for several reasons: the reduced sentence, because he told police that his memory of the shooting isn't very good and because he's a career criminal.

He said Smith has convictions dating to 2004 for burglary and drug charges.

"Carlton Smith is manipulative and cunning and their only source of information against Mr. Turner," Hicks said.

He also said Singh was on post-conviction supervision by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority after he served a two-year prison sentence for robbery.

Hicks said the police investigation was too quick and that investigators rushed to judgment after learning Turner believed Singh was responsible for his apartment being burglarized.

Hicks also noted that Turner has denied involvement in the shooting since it happened.

"We really do not have good enough evidence of what occurred that evening," Hicks said.