INDIO – A former attorney was sentenced today, July 18, 2025, for the 2008 murder of art dealer and Palm Springs socialite, Clifford Lambert.

David Replogle, DOB: 02-25-49, was sentenced by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Anthony Villalobos to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

In August 2022, a jury at the Larson Justice Center in Indio convicted Replogle of eight felonies including first-degree murder, criminal conspiracy, burglary, grand theft, identity theft, and forgery. The jurors also found true a special circumstance allegation of murder for financial gain.

The 2022 conviction followed a retrial after a 2010 conviction was overturned due to judicial misconduct. After the retrial, Replogle filed multiple motions for a new trial and requested numerous continuances of his sentencing date over objections by the District Attorney’s Office. All of those motions were denied.

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Replogle was part of a six-person scheme that lured 74-year-old Clifford Lambert under false pretenses, resulting in Lambert’s fatal stabbing in his Palm Springs home on December 5, 2008. His body was buried off a mountainside in Los Angeles, where a jawbone and later a skull were discovered and positively identified as those of Lambert.

A then-licensed attorney, Replogle used his legal credentials to forge power of attorney documents, enabling his co-conspirators to transfer more than $185,000 from Lambert’s accounts after the stabbing. Replogle attempted to liquidate Lambert’s assets including his home and art collection.

Co-defendants Kaushal Niroula, Daniel Garcia, Miguel Bustamante, Craig McCarthy, and Russell Manning were convicted for their roles in the scheme. Niroula died in custody before resentencing.

The case, INF064492-3, was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorneys Lisa DiMaria and Jenna Barsamian of the Riverside County District Attorney’s Homicide Unit.