MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed the murder and kidnapping convictions of a former probation officer who was sentenced to life without parole for her role in the death of a Minneapolis real estate agent.
The state's highest court ruled that Elsa Segura is entitled to a new trial because prosecutors failed to provide sufficient evidence and gave the jury erroneous instructions. In a 50 page opinion, the court details why they reversed two of the four conviction charges and are sending the case back to the lower courts.
"In this case, they were incredibly thoughtful and really went through the law here. I think they got it correct," Attorney Shauna Kieffer said. She's not affiliated with the case but shared legal insight on the ruling.
A jury in 2021 found Segura guilty of aiding and abetting premeditated first-degree murder in the New Year’s Eve 2019 killing of Monique Baugh. Prosecutors say Segura lured Baugh to a phony home showing in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove.
In the early hours of 2020, Baugh was found shot to death in a Minneapolis alley. Three other defendants were sentenced to life without parole in what prosecutors said was a scheme aimed at getting revenge against Baugh’s boyfriend, Jon Mitchell-Momoh, a recording artist who had a falling out with Lydon Wiggins, a former music business associate of his, who was also a drug dealer. Baugh’s boyfriend, who Wiggins allegedly considered a snitch, was also shot but survived.
The state Supreme Court affirmed the convictions of two of the other defendants earlier while its ruling on Wiggins, the alleged leader of the plot, remains pending.
“We realize that our opinion may result in another trial involving these difficult facts and intensify the grief of those affected by the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on Baugh and her boyfriend," the ruling said. "Nevertheless, we are duty-bound to ensure that a defendant in a criminal trial is not convicted based on insufficient evidence or erroneous jury instructions that were not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Segura admitted during her trial that she set up the sham home showing. She testified that she thought she was helping Wiggins with his drug business. But she maintained that she did not know of any plan to kidnap and murder Baugh.
The majority said the evidence was sufficient to convict Segura of aiding and abetting in first-degree felony murder while committing a kidnapping and committing great bodily harm. But they said the evidence was not strong enough to convict her of aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder, or premeditated attempted murder.
It's reasonable to infer from the circumstances as a whole that Segura believed that the original goal of the plot was something less serious than premeditated murder, perhaps a kidnapping and assault, the ruling said.
But the ruling said the trial judge's error in the jury instructions — misstating the law on the liability of accomplices — was serious enough that it could have affected the verdicts. So the high court threw out her convictions and sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings on the remaining kidnapping and felony murder charges.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, Segura will now return to county custody to restart the trial process.
"Following the Minnesota Supreme Court opinion issued today, the case reverts to its status just before the trial," Hennepin County Attorney's Office spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping said in a statement to KARE 11. "Ms. Segura will be transported back to Hennepin County jail to face the remaining counts of first-degree murder while committing a kidnapping and kidnapping to commit great bodily harm or terrorize. Bail will be set by a judge and the case will proceed through the normal case process."
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:
WATCH MORE ON KARE 11+
Download the free KARE 11+ app for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV and other smart TV platforms to watch more from KARE 11 anytime! The KARE 11+ app includes live streams of all of KARE 11's newscasts. You'll also find on-demand replays of newscasts; the latest from KARE 11 Investigates, Breaking the News and the Land of 10,000 Stories; exclusive programs like Verify and HeartThreads; and Minnesota sports talk from our partners at Locked On Minnesota.
- Add KARE 11+ on Roku here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Roku Channel Store.
- Add KARE 11+ on Fire TV here or by searching for KARE 11 in the Amazon App Store.
- Learn more about the KARE 11+ app for Apple TV in the Apple App Store.
- Learn more about KARE 11+ here.