Shazim Uppal was a 27-year-old Asian man and recent graduate of Temple University's James E. Beasley School of Law whose life ended violently in Hockessin, Delaware, in August 2015. On the evening of August 24, New Castle County police were sent to a parking lot in the 100 block of St. Claire Drive after someone reported that a black Audi had been sitting there for an unusually long time.
The location was at the Genesis HealthCare facility near the Hockessin Chase neighborhood, only a short distance from Uppal's home. Officers approached the Audi and saw a man in the driver's seat who did not respond to commands. After entering the vehicle, they discovered that Uppal was dead from several gunshot wounds to his upper torso.
Investigators determined that Uppal had last been seen alive driving his 2007 black Audi A8 in the Pike Creek area between approximately 10:00 and 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 23. Although his body was not discovered until the following evening, court records later alleged that the fatal shooting occurred on or about August 23. Detectives found a substantial quantity of marijuana inside the Audi. That discovery led police to say early in the investigation that the shooting did not appear to be a random attack. Authorities increasingly focused on the possibility that Uppal had been deliberately targeted in connection with a drug transaction and robbery.
Over the next three weeks, New Castle County detectives collected physical evidence and developed Benjamin Rauf of Westerlo, New York, as their suspect. Rauf and Uppal knew each other: both had attended Temple University's Beasley School of Law and graduated in 2015. Police alleged that Rauf met with Uppal in what was believed to have been an arranged drug transaction and that Rauf attempted to rob him. Investigators accused Rauf of shooting Uppal several times during that encounter. On September 14, 2015, New York State Police arrested Rauf as he left his residence, and he was held in New York pending extradition to Delaware.
The case soon became far more serious than the initial arrest charges suggested. In December 2015, a New Castle County grand jury indicted Rauf on two counts of first-degree murder, along with first-degree robbery and firearm and deadly-weapon offenses. Prosecutors advanced two murder theories: that Rauf intentionally killed Uppal by shooting him and that he also committed felony murder by causing Uppal's death while committing, attempting to commit, or fleeing from a first-degree robbery. At a subsequent hearing, a judge found sufficient evidence to hold Rauf without bail, concluding that the State had established proof supporting allegations that the killing occurred during a robbery and involved premeditation and substantial planning. Prosecutors announced that they intended to seek the death penalty.
Rauf's prosecution ultimately became intertwined with a major change in Delaware's capital-punishment law. While his case was awaiting trial, questions arose over whether Delaware's death-penalty procedure was constitutional after the United States Supreme Court struck down a similar Florida sentencing system. Rauf's case was used to examine that issue, and the Delaware Supreme Court ultimately concluded that the state's capital-sentencing system was unconstitutional. The case continued for several more years, and Rauf's attorneys were also challenging cellphone-location evidence when the prosecution was finally resolved without a murder trial.
On February 4, 2019, Rauf pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, formally accepting criminal responsibility for the fatal shooting while avoiding trial on the original first-degree murder counts. His public defender said that Rauf accepted responsibility and wanted to spare Uppal's family the ordeal of a trial. Later that month, a Delaware Superior Court judge sentenced Rauf to 15 years in prison. The sentence was followed by six months of home confinement or work release and two years of probation. During each year of probation, he was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service involving youth outreach or legal assistance for people who could not otherwise afford it. What began as a prosecution in which the State was prepared to seek execution ultimately ended with a manslaughter conviction and a 15-year prison sentence for the killing of Shazim Uppal.
