Accused of killing girlfriend's family, trial in California

Chicago: Trial for 25-year-old Indian national Iftekhar Murtaza, who is charged with brutally killing his ex-girlfriend's father and sister about three years ago, is set to begin on July 12 in a California court.

Murtaza and two co-defendants Vitaliy Krasnoperov, 24, and Charles Anthony Murphy Jr, 25, are being held without bail and all three men have pleaded not guilty.

A pre-trial hearing in the case was held on March 5 at Santa Ana, California.

"Our concern is that we want to try everyone together as quick as we can," MSNBC quoted trial prosecutor Howard Gundy as saying.

Gundy added that attorneys for Murphy and Krasnoperov want a separate trial from Murtaza. The trial will be held at Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.

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Prosecutors in California's Orange County had last week said they will seek death penalty for Murtaza, who is charged with conspiring and murdering his Indian-American ex-girlfriend Shayona Dhanak's father Jaypraykash Dhanak (56) and sister Karishma (20) as well as attempting to murder her mother Leela (54) and setting the victims' bodies on fire.

In March 2007, 18-year-old Shayona, a freshman at the University of California, Irvine, ended a two-year dating relationship with Murtaza since the Dhanaks disapproved of the relationship partly because they were practicing Hindus and Murtaza was a non-practicing Muslim, prosecutors said.

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Murtaza is charged with two felony counts of special circumstances murder, one felony count of attempted murder and one felony count of conspiracy to commit murder.

He faces sentencing enhancements for multiple murders, murder during the commission of a burglary, murder during the commission of kidnapping and murder for financial gain.

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Murtaza held Shayona's parents responsible for the break-up because they did not like him and had pressured her to end the relationship.

After the break-up, Murtaza contacted his friends Krasnoperov and Murphy online and discussed ways to murder Shayona's parents, including burning their house down or using a hit man.

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If convicted, Krasnoperov and Murphy face a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The defendants are accused of entering the Dhanaks' home in May 2007 and forcibly restraining Jaypraykash, who was beaten, stabbed repeatedly and put in a bathroom while Murtaza waited for his wife and daughter to arrive home.

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Murtaza and his friends then allegedly doused the Dhanaks Anaheim Hills residence in gasoline, lighting fire to the house. Murtaza was arrested attempting to board a flight to India and was later extradited back to Orange County on June 13, 2007.