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Criminal Justice

Allegations that murder defendant was ‘a drug ho’ who practiced witchcraft leads to tossed conviction

By Debra Cassens Weiss

February 25, 2025, 9:15 am CST

The New Mexico Supreme Court has overturned a woman’s 2022 murder conviction and barred a retrial because of “severe and pervasive prosecutorial misconduct, exacerbated by a lackluster defense.”

The state supreme court tossed the conviction and the case against Desiree Lensegrav, concluding in a Feb. 20 opinion that her “entire trial was filled with theatrics, hyperbole and disparaging inflammatory statements.”

In his opening statement, the prosecutor called Lensegrav “a worthless mother” and “a drug ho—not my words!” the opinion said. During the trial, the prosecution called a witness who accused Lensegrav of witchcraft. In closing statements, the prosecutor encouraged jurors to convict Lensegrav “for the stench of death that permeated this courtroom.”

The prosecutor was referring to the introduction of “foul-smelling” physical evidence that was attached to the victim’s body, which caused a trial adjournment.

The Legal Profession Blog posted highlights from the opinion, while the Taos News and KOB had coverage. The state supreme court also issued a Feb. 20 press release.

The opinion identified the lead prosecutor as Assistant District Attorney Cosme Ripol of the Eighth Judicial District in New Mexico. He will not be commenting in response to an ABA Journal request, according to the district office manager.

Eighth Judicial District Attorney Marcus J. Montoya issued a statement.

“Though we prepared fully to present this case at trial, secured a conviction and would have preferred to keep this truly bad actor in prison, we accept the opinion of the supreme court, and we will always learn and evolve so as to continually improve,” Montoya said.

Lensegrav’s husband, Aram Montoya, pleaded guilty to murder in the killing in 2021 and received a life sentence. In his opening statement, Ripol told jurors about Aram Montoya’s statements incriminating Lensegrav, even though he was not on the prosecution witness list.

Referring to Lensegrav, Ripol said jurors will hear a story “of a strong, smart, determined, manipulative, vengeful, capable, controlling, resilient, cunning human being with a profound drug problem” who used her “needy, insecure” husband to commit murder.

Ripol also told jurors about expected testimony from the owner of a drug house. The owner would testify that Lensegrav suggested on several occasions that she was a witch, and she “would put menstrual blood concoctions” in her husband’s food to control him, Ripol said. The owner saw Lensegrav’s eyes turn “black. With fury. And rage,” Ripol said. “And it was like a Hollywood movie. He could feel the wind coming out of her.”

Lensegrav and Aram Montoya became suspects in 2020 after Aram Montoya was accused of trying to kill Lensegrav by repeatedly stabbing her in the neck and back with a paring knife. After Lensegrav came out of a medically induced coma, police gave her a Miranda warning and began to question her about the 2019 murder of Joseph Morgas. Police told Lensegrav that her husband had confessed to the murder, and her husband had thrown her “under the bus.”

Lensegrav told police that she wanted Aram Montoya to beat up Morgas because of his statements at the drug house. Morgas was a relative of a man who raped and impregnated Lensegrav when she was a teenager.

Lensegrav said Morgas laughed at her, called her a drug whore, and said she deserved to be raped. He also said he had video of Lensegrav at the drug house, and he would share it with his family, so they could get custody of her child.

Aram Montoya and Morgas fought outside the drug house, Lensegrav told police. Aram Montoya put Morgas in a headlock and “choked him out,” causing him to turn purple and go limp, she said. Lensegrav said she helped dispose of the body, fearing that Aram Montoya would kill her, too, if she didn’t cooperate.

Ripol told jurors that Lensegrav had confessed to strangling Morgas with twine, directed her husband to burn the body and to cut off Morgas’ head with a shovel, and had thrown the shovel and head in the river.

“None of these allegations would conform to the evidence,” the New Mexico Supreme Court said.

“Inexplicably,” the state supreme court said, “defense counsel did not object to the vast majority of instances of prosecutorial misconduct that defendant identifies on appeal.”

The New Mexico Supreme Court concluded that the prosecutorial misconduct was so unfairly prejudicial that it presented a double jeopardy bar to a retrial under the New Mexico Constitution.

“Prosecutors are held to the highest ethical standards in all courtrooms, and any time that standard is not maintained, reversal and this type of circumstance is the result. Like many trials get, this case became emotionally charged,” Montoya said in his statement to the Journal.

“Fortunately, the person we know was physically guilty of taking Mr. Morgas’ life is still in prison, and he will stay there,” Montoya said.

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A group of Louisiana health care providers and reproductive rights advocates are challenging the state’s unprecedented action of classifying abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol to the state’s list of controlled substances.

Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed Louisiana Act 246 into law in May — a choice which effectuated the most extreme legal action yet taken on the drugs. Under the law, the two medications, which have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for more than two decades, are now classified as Schedule IV drugs. The classification puts mifepristone and misoprostol on part with certain painkillers and mood-altering medications that merit greater oversight due to their potential for abuse or dependence.

A judge quashed the murder charges against the disgraced former Houston police officer accused of lying to justify a no-knock raid that resulted in officers killing a couple in Texas.

As previously reported by Law&Crime, the officer in question, Gerald Goines, allegedly claimed in search warrant documents that he used two confidential informants to buy heroin from Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, two people falsely accused of dealing drugs.

Goines’ defense argued that the indictments were not specific about which tampering laws he violated, according to Houston ABC affiliate KTRK.

A 23-year-old man in New York will be going to prison after he called the police and unwittingly exposed his own Walter White-esque drug lab last year, which he had been falsely operating as a legitimate business.

Matthew Leshinsky pleaded guilty on Thursday to multiple drug charges, including unlawful manufacture of methamphetamine in the third degree, authorities announced.

“This defendant was operating a Breaking Bad-style drug lab and tried to conceal it under the guise of a legitimate business,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in a statement. “He then inadvertently turned himself in when he reported that a burglary occurred at that same business.”

According to the DA’s office, Leshinsky called 911 at about 3:30 a.m. on June 7 to report a burglary in progress at his “purported business establishment, Quantitative Laboratories, LLC, in Ronkonkoma, New York.”

Once there, first responders saw “broken glass” at the entrance of what appeared to be a laboratory.

“While the officers continued investigating, they discovered what appeared to be a clandestine laboratory that was involved in the manufacture, production, and preparation of methamphetamine and dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogenic substance, amongst other controlled substances,” the release states.

A CBS News investigation found that the sale of illegal drugs is booming on social media, making access easier for teenagers. Tom Hanson reports.

Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to increase the pending prison sentence for a Florida man who fled ahead of his sentencing hearing for felony convictions stemming from the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

As Law&Crime previously reported, Christopher Worrell went missing in August days before he was supposed to report to court in Washington, D.C., for sentencing before U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth. Lamberth, a Ronald Reagan appointee, had convicted Worrell in May of seven felonies, including obstructing an official proceeding of Congress, civil disorder, and assaulting officers using a dangerous weapon.

Worrell was finally caught weeks later, in late September — and according to a memo filed by federal prosecutors on Tuesday, he pretended to overdose on drugs in an attempt to further delay facing his fate.

“He apparently had no intention of ever turning himself in,” the DOJ’s supplemental sentencing memorandum says. “Worrell was recaptured, however, when he attempted to covertly return to his residence. Worrell then faked a drug overdose prior to his arrest, and maintained that lie during a five-day hospital stay, wasting the time and money of both medical staff and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, which provided deputies to watch Worrell 24/7 in a non-secure hospital location and was left to foot the bill for Worrell’s unnecessary medical care.”

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Criminal Justice

Biden expands marijuana pardons, commutes sentences of 11 others serving long drug sentences

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 22, 2023, 1:27 pm CST

President Joe Biden on Friday expanded the types of marijuana offenses for which he is granting pardons.

On Oct. 6, 2022, Biden granted pardons to people convicted of simple marijuana possession under federal or Washington, D.C., laws on or before that date.

On Friday, Biden pardoned simple marijuana offenses committed on or before Dec. 22, 2023. He also granted pardons for additional offenses under federal and D.C. law involving simple marijuana possession, attempted possession and use, according to an FAQ page by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney.

Biden’s proclamation is here; his statement is here; and a statement by Vice President Kamala Harris is here.

The pardons cover U.S. citizens and lawful U.S. residents. They do not cover marijuana offenses of conspiracy, possession and possession with intent to distribute. Nor do they cover driving while under the influence of marijuana or possession of marijuana in a correctional facility.

Those seeking the pardons will have to submit applications to the DOJ’s pardon attorney.

Biden said in his statement Friday he is also commuting the sentences of 11 people who are “serving disproportionately long sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. All of them would have been eligible to receive significantly lower sentences if they were charged with the same offense today.”

Publications covering the announcement include Axios and USA Today.