After a week of jury selection, lawyers presented opening statements in the murder trial of Margot Lewis to a group of jurors at the Hennepin County Government Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Lewis, 33, of North Liberty, Iowa, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder — one with intent to cause the death of Liara Tsai and the other without premeditation, using a dangerous weapon.
Tsai, a beloved DJ in Minneapolis’ underground electronic dance community, was found dead in the backseat of a car in southern Minnesota on June 22, 2024. Olmsted Sheriff County deputies initially responded to a report of a single vehicle crash and saw the driver of the car, identified as Lewis, sitting in a lawn chair at the median of Interstate 90 by exit Highway 42 near Eyota.
Two people who stopped to offer help told police they saw a dead person in the back seat. Police determined Tsai, who was wrapped in bedding, a mattress, and covered in a tarp, was not killed in the car crash. Deputies observed a puncture wound on Tsai’s neck, and she was cold to the touch.
An autopsy confirmed Tsai died of multiple sharp-force injuries.
“What they had was a toxic love chemistry,” said prosecutor Cassandra Shepherd. “It was addictive, it was destructive emotionally, and it all ended with the gruesome murder of Liara Tsai.”
A handful of people attended the court hearing outside of jurors and sat in the back of the courtroom. Lewis walked in with disheveled hair, wearing a red blouse and dark gray suit.
Shepherd said Lewis killed Tsai with a dagger inside Tsai’s Minneapolis apartment, wrapped her body and transported her in Tsai’s car towards Iowa City, where they had previously dated. Investigators last year discovered Tsai’s apartment in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood was a bloody scene.
Tsai identified as a transgender woman and was 35 years old when she died. According to loved ones, she served in the military for about 10 years, which included being in the U.S. Air Force and serving in Afghanistan. Officials confirmed Lewis also identifies as a transgender woman.
Through testimony from various witnesses, including law enforcement and friends of Tsai, Shepherd told jurors they will understand Lewis was dependent on her on-and-off relationship with Tsai and wanted vengeance because of resentment. She also noted on the day Tsai’s body was found that Lewis would not answer the police’s questions because of a personal vow of silence.
Public defender Briana Perry said that silence is not an admission of guilt.
“Silence is not a confession,” she said. “In Margot’s case, silence was a deeply personal battle, one she had taken months prior to this tragedy.”
Perry told jurors they will not hear from a witness to Tsai’s death or forensic evidence connecting Lewis to Tsai’s murder. She said Lewis instead found Tsai dead in her apartment already and in a state of shock, “made a desperate, misguided choice to remove Liara from the one place that she knew Liara hated,” which was her apartment.
Before this week’s trial, Lewis went through a mental health competency evaluation and was found competent to stand trial.
She is in custody at the Hennepin County Jail and her trial continues Wednesday.
