Retrial set for man charged in wife's killing

A judge this week scheduled a retrial for a man charged with killing his wife in 2021 and warned attorneys to avoid missteps that led to a Jan. 26 mistrial in the case.

State District Judge Britt Baca-Miller declared a mistrial after five days of testimony in the trial of Lee Cuellar, 44, who is charged with first-degree murder in the strangulation of 26-year-old Rosalejandra Cisneros-Cuellar.

Cuellar’s attorneys told jurors in opening statements that in the hours before the killing, Cuellar began having delusions that his wife was a demon who was “taking his soul” and needed to be killed.

Baca-Miller told attorneys she was disappointed that jurors had to view “what I can honestly say are the worst photos that I’ve ever seen,” only to have the proceeding end in mistrial.

“After five days and having to declare a mistrial, I was obviously extremely frustrated by that,” Baca-Miller said Wednesday at a scheduling hearing.

The mistrial came after jurors reviewed statements that defense attorneys argued were improper and prejudicial to Cuellar. His retrial is tentatively scheduled for June in 2nd Judicial District Court.

“I don’t want that to happen again,” Baca-Miller said. “I don’t want to have to have a jury sit through this and then have to declare a mistrial at 4:45 (p.m.) on a Friday.”

The mistrial led to finger-pointing between defense and prosecution attorneys about who was responsible.

The 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office said that defense attorneys failed to review video evidence prior to trial.

Defense attorney Amy Williams said in a phone interview that the prejudicial statements were included in a transcript viewed by jurors of Cuellar’s interview with a police detective.

Baca-Miller on Wednesday cut off discussion between the attorneys and set a May 10 deadline for attorneys to review the evidence and redact prejudicial statements.

“The fact is that I declared a mistrial, and I’m giving you deadlines so this won’t happen again,” Baca-Miller said.

Cuellar’s attorneys acknowledge that he strangled his wife of eight years in the bedroom of their Southwest Albuquerque home on May 23, 2021.

Cuellar, a former ROTC instructor at Kennedy Middle School, struggled to adjust to civilian life after he retired from a 22-year career in the U.S. Army but was supportive of his wife’s successful career as a fashion model, Williams said in opening statements.

In the days before the killing, Cuellar’s mental health had deteriorated to the point that he had planned to kill himself by self-immolation, she told jurors.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, Cuellar told police that he and Cisneros-Cuellar got into an argument because he thought she was a “demon.”

Within hours of the killing, Cuellar flagged down an Albuquerque Police Department officer at Tiguex Park, the officer testified.

Cuellar immediately told the officer he had killed his wife and that police could find her body in the couple’s home in the 9900 block of Rio Madre SW, near Dennis Chavez and 98th.