EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The New Mexico Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a Doña Ana County woman for her role in an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
Cristal Cardenas was sentenced to life in prison three years ago for the 2018 murder of her ex-boyfriend, Mario Cabral, and 24 additional years for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder as well as criminal solicitation to commit first-degree murder, according to the Supreme Court.
Cardenas was also facing first-degree murder of Cabral’s girlfriend, Vanessa Mora but the jury ended up acquitting Cardenas of that charge.
Cardenas’s boyfriend, Luis Flores pleaded guilty to conspiracy resulting in death after he shot both Cabral and Mora in their home in 2018.
Cardenas had a daughter with Flores and the court concluded that Cardenas failed to receive a fair trial because the prosecution was allowed to question the defendant about the six-month-old daughter testing positive for methamphetamine, according to the Supreme Court.
Cardenas filed an appeal and argued that the “prosecution’s questioning about the daughter’s drug test was inadmissible and unduly prejudicial. The Court’s majority agreed that the trial court erred by allowing the questioning,” the Supreme Court said.
“We conclude there is a reasonable probability that the error affected the jury’s verdict,” the Court said, ordering the case back to the Third Judicial District Court for a new trial on the charges Cardenas was convicted of in 2022.
As we have previously reported, Cardenas was sentenced to 54 years in prison for the first-degree murder of Cabral and Mora.
Cabral and Mora were found shot to death in their home in March 2018. The investigation revealed that Cardenas and Cabral were in a custody battle and fighting over a home.
Cabral had told several people that he had heard Cardenas had put a “hit” out on him and Mora.
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