The former Southern California lawyer was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 2008 Palm Springs Art Dealer’s financially motivated murder.
The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said 76-year-old David Leprogle was sentenced on July 18 for the murder of senior art dealer and socialite Clifford Lambert.
Leprogle, 59, during the crime, was part of a six-man team that targeted 74-year-old Lambert for financial gain.
Lambert was stabbed to death on December 5, 2008 at his Palm Springs home. His body was buried on the mountainside of Los Angeles. There, the jawbone and later skull were discovered and actively identified as Lambert’s.
76-year-old David Leprogle was sentenced to death on July 18, 2025 in 2008 for the murder of senior art dealer and socialite Clifford Lambert. (Riverside County District Attorney’s Office) David Leprogle, 76, was sentenced on July 18, 2025 in the 2008 murder of senior art dealer and socialite Clifford Lambert. (Riverside County District Attorney’s Office) David Leprogle, 76, was sentenced on July 18, 2025 in the 2008 murder of senior art dealer and socialite Clifford Lambert. (Riverside County District Attorney’s Office)
A licensed lawyer, Replogle used his qualifications to build lawyer documents.
Replogle attempted to settle the victim’s assets, including his home and his art collection.
In 2010 he was convicted of murder, but the sentence was overturned due to judicial misconduct. After the retrial, in August 2022, the ju apprenticed a repeated eight felony counts, including first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy, robbery, major theft, identity theft and forgery. The ju judge also found the allegations of special circumstances of murder for economic benefits to be true.
“After the retrial, Replogle filed multiple claims for the new trial, demanding a number of continuation of the date of the ruling on objections by the district attorney’s office,” court documents said. “All of these moves were rejected.”
On July 18, 2025, a Riverside County Superior Court judge was sentenced to him in jail without the possibility of parole.
His accomplices, Kaushal Nirula, Daniel Garcia, Miguel Bustamante, Craig McCarthy and Russell Manning, were also convicted of roles in the scheme.
In September 2022, Nirula, 41, died of obvious murder while being detained in a riverside prison before he resented.
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