The family of Indian-origin truck driver Harjinder Singh has appealed for a lighter sentence after a Florida highway crash left three people dead and placed him at risk of spending decades in a US prison.

Harjinder Singh, the semi-truck driver accused of making an illegal U-turn on the Florida Turnpike that then caused a deadly crash, will remain in the St. Lucie County Jail while his court case proceeds.

Harjinder Singh, a 28-year-old a native of India, was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide this week after allegedly making an illegal U-turn that resulted in a collision with a minivan on a highway approximately 50 miles north of West Palm Beach.