The final defendant convicted of the 2008 killing of a Palm Springs retiree was sentenced Friday to life without the possibility of parole, marking the apparent conclusion of a prosecution that has taken nearly 20 years.
David Replogle, 76, was sentenced at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. He has indicated he is appealing his conviction in statements released to the press recently, as did another of the defendants, Daniel Garcia, who was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year.
After Clifford Lambert, 74, went missing in December 2008, police discovered in the months and years that followed mounting evidence that a group of con men killed him and plundered his belongings. While portions of his remains were not found until 2016 and 2017 by investigators in a remote area of Los Angeles County, detectives pieced together a financially-motivated killing in a case filed in the summer of 2009.
Replogle was among six defendants charged with various elements in a scheme to kill Lambert and take his money. He was convicted in 2022 of nine felonies — murder, conspiracy, burglary, grand theft, forgery and identity theft. He filed various motions to dispute the conviction, which led to a lengthy delay in his being sentenced. Replogle told a media outlet in the Bay Area, where several of the involved conmen had ties, that he was confident his conviction would be overturned. He was accused of impersonating Lambert to help the others empty his bank accounts. The group also attempted to sell his home.
Kaushal Niroula and Garcia had befriended Lambert and prosecutors claimed they recruited the others to play various roles in a plan. They falsely told Lambert he was due an inheritance and during a meeting about the ruse, he was fatally stabbed by the accomplices.
By 2012, the six defendants all either had been convicted of various roles in the killing or had pleaded guilty. Niroula, Garcia, Replogle and Miguel Bustamante were convicted of Lambert’s murder. Craig McCarthy pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Russell Manning pleaded guilty to fraud in 2010.
But the murder convictions were overturned when secret recordings from the trial captured Riverside County Superior Court Judge David Downing making homophobic remarks about Niroula.
Bustamante was convicted of murder and other crimes in 2023. Garcia was sentenced to life in prison for murder earlier this year. Replogle was the final defendant awaiting resolution of his case.
Niroula, who was a transgender woman, was killed in jail in 2022 on the approach to her retrial. Despite her gender identity, she was housed in a cell with a male convicted sex offender, who murdered her. The cellmate pleaded guilty in 2022 and was sentenced to 75 years to life.
Christopher Damien covers public safety and the criminal justice system for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at christopher.damien@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Final defendant in Palm Springs retiree’s killing gets life in prison