Jury begins deliberations in 2021 MDC beating death

Jurors began deliberations Wednesday in the trial of a man charged in the 2021 beating death of his cellmate during a lockdown at the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Detention Center.

Staffing shortages at the county lockup hovered in the background throughout the trial of Telea Lui, 28, who is charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 41-year-old Leon Casiquito.

But prosecutors told jurors Monday the absence of a full-time guard in Echo 8 — the pod at MDC where the killing occurred — is peripheral to the question of Lui’s guilt or innocence.

“It would have been better if there had been a correction officer stationed in Echo 8 that night full time,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Jason Greenlee told jurors in closing arguments.

“Clearly, it is bad that that was not the case,” he said. “You can think that, be sure of that, and be angry at MDC.”

But jail staffing woes didn’t prompt Lui to repeatedly strike Casiquito and strike his face on the floor while the two were locked in a cell together on Oct. 25, 2021, Greenlee told jurors.

“I assume it’s clear to you all that this wasn’t some sort of an even fight,” he said, showing jurors a photo of Casiquito’s bloodied face. Lui “felt disrespected by Mr. Casiquito.”

Jurors will continue deliberations Thursday in the 2nd Judicial District Court trial before Judge Stan Whitaker.

Lui’s attorney, Camille Cordova, responded that Lui feared for his life as a result of escalating abuse by Casiquito over a period of days.

“It was not Mr. Lui that initiated this — it was Mr. Casiquito,” Cordova told jurors. “Mr. Casiquito was verbally abusing (Lui) and physically abusing him.”

Cordova compared Casiquito’s behavior toward Lui as “water torture.”

“He kept making Mr. Lui afraid that he was going to be hurt,” she said.

Cordova reminded jurors that the two men were locked in “a very, very, very small place.”

MDC staff responded around 5:45 p.m. to the fight inside the men’s cell and found Casiquito not breathing, with severe trauma to his head, witnesses testified this week. He died at the scene.

Other inmates in lockdown in the Echo unit could hear the beating from their cells and a voice screaming for help.

When officers entered the cell, they found blood spattered on the walls and pools of blood on the floor.

A union representative told the Journal at the time that MDC was not fully staffed at the time.

That evening, five officers, plus two relief officers, were overseeing all eight pods at the jail, a leader of the correction officers’ union told the Journal. Had the jail been fully staffed, eight officers and two relief officers would have been overseeing the pods.

Jail staffing was largely excluded from the trial testimony because prosecutors argued that staffing issues were irrelevant to the case.

Lui told an investigator that Casiquito had been “nagging” him by hitting him in the legs over the past few days, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Lui testified in his own defense Wednesday, telling jurors that Casiquito had repeatedly slapped or struck his legs while Lui was lying on the top bunk of his cell.

Lui eventually stood up and struck his cellmate in the jaw, initiating a fight, Lui testified. Casiquito later apologized and asked Lui to stop striking him. Lui said he wanted to prevent Casiquito from standing up because he feared being struck.

Lui was arrested in July 2021 on charges of aggravated battery and false imprisonment for allegedly striking his mother with a 20-pound dumbbell.

Lui’s mother told police that Lui had schizophrenia but did not take his medications, according to a criminal complaint. Lui “would often have hallucinations” but was never violent, she told officers.

Casiquito had been charged in December 2020 with armed robbery and aggravated assault for allegedly pulling a knife on a liquor store owner, according to a criminal complaint. A judge ordered him to remain in custody pending trial.