Lyndon Wiggins’ defense files for third retrial in Monique Baugh murder at sentencing

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - On the day Lyndon Wiggins, 40, was set to be sentenced for convictions related to the murder of a Minneapolis real estate agent, a judge is taking the motion for another retrial under advisement.

If approved, it would be the third time Wiggins' would be tried for his involvement in the murder of Monique Baugh, which two separate juries had already found him guilty of. 

READ MORE: 2 sentenced to life in prison for murder of Minneapolis realtor Monique Baugh

Lyndon Wiggins defense files for another retrial

What they're saying:

Wiggins' defense attorney, Sarah Gad, filed a motion for another retrial, which Judge Kappelhoff said he would take under advisement. 

That motion asserted that the previous trial proceedings amounted to "a cumulative due-process violation," which can only be remedied with a new trial. The issues cited in the motion include the court's following actions:

• Warnings to defense witnesses that deterred testimony
• Declining to revisit the suppression ruling on historical cell-site location information
• Denying the defense request to exclude the victim's mother despite emotional outbursts in the jury's presence
• Continuing to preside despite a pending motion to recuse that was never ruled on by the presiding judge

This happened on the day Wiggins was set to be sentenced for multiple counts of aiding and abetting murder and kidnapping after he was found guilty less than two weeks earlier. 

The prosecuting attorney, Paige Starkey, appeared frustrated as she spoke about the latest developments. 

"This is just one more insult on top of injury in terms of Monique's family and their reasonable expectation that things would be concluded today," Starkey said. "As we sit here, five years and 11 months after she was kidnapped and murdered."

Starkey then added, "This is a tough turn of events here in the last hour, for all the people who are here and who are ready to proceed."

Monique Baugh's mother, Wanda Baugh, spoke after court, saying the motion was the latest round of "shenanigans" put forward by the Wiggins' defense team.

"You wait until the day of sentencing, you send a 13-page motion to get a new trial, right before sentencing, who does that?" Wanda asked. "We just gotta wait. We gotta wait and see what the judge says. We always show up. We're not going anywhere."

What the motion says:

Wiggins' previous convictions

The backstory:

Prosecutors say Wiggins was responsible for the murder of a Minneapolis real estate agent who was lured to a fake showing at a Maple Grove home in 2019.

He was found guilty by a jury in 2022, but an appeal to the state’s Supreme Court ultimately ruled a mistake in jury instructions incorrectly allowed Wiggins to be found guilty.

This is the result of a re-trial that began on Oct. 14 and ultimately returned a guilty verdict on Nov. 3, 2025, on the following charges:

• One count of aiding/abetting first-degree premeditated murder
• One count of aiding/abetting first-degree premeditated attempted murder
• One count of aiding/abetting kidnapping to commit great bodily harm
• One count of aiding/abetting first-degree murder while committing the crime of kidnapping

Monique Baugh murder in 2019

Big picture view:

Monique Baugh, 28, was working as a real estate agent in 2019 when she was killed as part of retaliation against her boyfriend.

READ MORE: 'Just so heartbreaking': Real estate agent shot and killed on New Year's Eve in Minneapolis

Five people in total were convicted as part of the plot.

Elsa Segura, the woman who was found to have lured Baugh to the Maple Grove home that led to the attack, also had her conviction overturned, but later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Cedric Berry and Berry Davis, each serving life sentences, had their convictions upheld upon appeal.

Shante Berry was given probation for aiding an offender.

Defense attorney Sarah Gad drug investigation 

Dig deeper:

The case was linked to a jailhouse drug investigation involving the trafficking of fentanyl-soaked paperwork behind bars.

READ MORE: Judge rejects efforts to toss out high-profile murder case due to negative publicity

Wiggins’ defense attorney, Sarah Gad, had her home, and a cell phone searched as part of the probe. On Tuesday, Gad argued the murder case should be tossed out.

On Tuesday, Gad delivered fiery oral arguments on why the Lyndon Wiggins murder case should have been be tossed out.

Gad went after the state for conducting a public "smear campaign," describing the search of her home and any suggested connection to drugs, as a "brazen violation." Gad maintained the only remedy now is a full dismissal of the charges.

As FOX 9 Investigators reported, Wiggins’ case took a dramatic twist when law enforcement obtained court-signed search warrants to search Gad’s home and a cell phone of hers in connection to a jailhouse drug investigation that suggested Wiggins was obtaining drugs while in jail — potentially through an attorney.

Those allegations focused on paperwork laced with drugs worth big money in lock-up as inmates can rip off pieces and put them under their tongue for a high.

The search warrant states that it is unknown "if Gad is a middle person, an unknowing participant or organizer" of the alleged scheme.

Crime and Public SafetyMinneapolisMaple Grove