The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a woman sentenced to life in prison without parole for aiding and abetting the kidnapping and murder of a Minneapolis real estate agent has the right to a new trial.
Elsa E. Segura's conviction was vacated and remanded to Hennepin County District Court, but she remains in the Shakopee Women's Prison. Segura, 31, a former Hennepin County probation officer, is charged with murder in the New Year's Day 2019 kidnapping of Monique Beau, 28, a mother of two young daughters.
A 2021 jury convicted Segura on all counts of premeditated first-degree murder, premeditated attempted first-degree murder, kidnapping, and aiding and abetting first-degree felony murder while kidnapping. . Segura used a “burner” cell phone and a false name to lure Beau to a fake home in Maple Grove. Two men kidnapped Bo and tortured her to learn the whereabouts of one of the suspects and her ex-boyfriend.
Judge Gordon Moore wrote in a 42-page opinion that the basis for a new trial for Ms. Segura was that there was insufficient evidence to convict her of aiding and abetting first-degree premeditated murder or attempted premeditated murder. He said it was on. Moore also pointed out that the jury's incorrect instructions significantly misstated the law and may have influenced the verdict. Justices Paul Thissen and G. Barry Anderson wrote a separate eight-page opinion concurring in part and dissenting with Mr. Moore. Judge Carl Procaccini was not involved in the decision.
Segura argued in his appeal that the state failed to prove he knew of the kidnapping-murder plot or intended to aid and abet the crime. “The central question is what Segura knew when he scheduled the home showing with Beau,” Moore wrote.
Moore said Segura participated in the scheme at the direction of her boyfriend, Lyndon Wiggins, who was also assisted by suspects Cedric Berry and Berry Davis. Like Segura, all men received life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Moore said Segura believed “the end goal of Wiggins' plan was a crime less serious than the murder of Mr. Baugh and John Mitchell-Momo, the father of Mr. Baugh's children.” It says there is a reasonable possibility.
Bo's boyfriend had a business dispute with Wiggins over a contract with a record label. Evidence at Segura's trial also showed that Wiggins had accused Mitchell Momoh of drug trafficking. Mitchell Momo was there watching over her daughters when Berry and Davis took Beau, bound with duct tape, to their home in Minneapolis. Beau and Mitchell Momo were shot, but he survived.
“We plan to make decisions in this difficult case fully aware of the tragic loss suffered by Mr. Beau's family and the communities involved in this case, as well as the injuries sustained by Mr. Beau. . [Mitchell-Momoh]” Moore wrote.
In sentencing Segura, District Judge Peter Cahill said her role was small but important “because you could have prevented this from happening.” Baugh's mother, Wanda Williams Baugh, said Segura “could have been a hero.”
