Star Tribune
Convictions reversed in murder trial over Minneapolis real estate agent, court rules
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 to sustain convictions on two of the four charges, and that the trial judge gave the jury erroneous instructions about determining her criminal liability.
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 committed a kidnapping, and to commit 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 premediated 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.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
ST. CLOUD – On Tuesday, St. Cloud voters will be asked to make decisions on a new fire station and moving city elections to odd years, and — for those who live in Stearns County — how to fund a new county jail.
Here’s a look at the three referendum questions that are on St. Cloud-area ballots this year.
Ballot question: “Shall Stearns County be authorized to impose a sales tax & use tax of three-eighths of one percent to finance up to $325 million, plus associated bonding costs, for the construction of a justice center facility, consisting of law enforcement, judicial center and jail? The sales tax would be used solely to finance construction, upgrades and financing costs for the justice center and remain in effect for 30 years or until the project is paid for, whichever comes first. These services and facilities are mandated by the state of Minnesota to be provided by counties.”
Stearns County officials are planning to build a new $325 million justice center complex that includes a 270-bed jail, a judicial center with courtrooms, and a law enforcement center that houses the Sheriff’s Office. In the summer, Stearns County board members voted to move those facilities out of downtown and to a new location with more space. That site has yet to be determined.
The question before voters is how to fund that center.
County Administrator Mike Williams said a common misconception he’s heard at recent town halls is residents think voting “yes” gives permission to the county to build the facility, and if they vote “no,” the county won’t spend the money to build it.
“People [think they] are voting on the project — and they’re not. They’re voting on how we are going to fund it,” Williams said.
If voters approve the ballot question, the county will impose a sales tax to fund the project. If they vote it down, the county can instead pay for the project with property taxes.