Minnesota Supreme Court overturns conviction for woman accused of aiding in Minneapolis realtor’s death

The state’s highest court has overturned first-degree murder and kidnapping convictions for a woman who was sentenced to life in prison for aiding the New Year’s Eve killing of a Minneapolis realtor.

Elsa Segura, now 32, was accused of posing as an interested homebuyer to draw 28-year-old Monique Baugh to a house showing on Dec. 31, 2019. While Segura never showed up, two of her boyfriend’s friends, Cedric Berry and Berry Davis, did and then tied Baugh up, kidnapped her and then shot her in an alley, according to court documents. They also shot Baugh’s boyfriend, who survived his injuries, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors said they believe Berry and Davis did all of that at the direction of Segura’s boyfriend, Lyndon Wiggins, who allegedly had a falling out with Baugh’s boyfriend earlier that year stemming from a dispute involving a record label.

Berry, Davis, Wiggins and Segura were all convicted and sentenced to life in prison for their roles in Baugh’s kidnapping and killing. Cedric Berry’s wife, Shante Davis, who is also Berry Davis’ sister, was also sentenced to 90 days in jail for aiding after the fact.

However, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to uphold Segura’s convictions for first-degree murder and attempted murder under an aiding and abetting theory of liability because they didn’t prove Segura knew that Berry and Davis were planning to kidnap and kill Baugh.

The justices also determined the judge’s jury instructions on accomplice liability were erroneous and could’ve impacted the jury’s decision.

In their ruling, the justices wrote they believe the circumstances “support a reasonable inference that Segura believed the end goal of Wiggins’s plan was some crime less serious than the premeditated murder of Baugh and (her boyfriend).”

They go on to state it wasn’t clear Wiggins, Berry and Davis originally planned to kill Baugh, and if that’s the case, “then Segura could not have known of and intended to further a plan to murder Baugh when Segura set up the sham house showing.”

The ruling throws out Segura’s convictions and life sentence and sends it back to Hennepin County for further proceedings. However, the ruling is unlikely to impact the cases of Berry and Davis, even if the premeditation aspect is in question because the killing happened during a kidnapping. It’s unclear if it could impact Wiggins’s case.

“Following the Minnesota Supreme Court opinion issued today, the case reverts to its status just before the trial. 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,” Hennepin County Attorney’s Office spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. “Bail will be set by a judge and the case will proceed through the normal case process.”