Conviction in Las Vegas killing is overturned

Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2000 | 10:43 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Supreme Court Monday overturned the first-degree murder conviction of Jose Flores, sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of a man in Las Vegas.

The court said District Judge Michael Douglas should not have allowed evidence linking Flores to another man convicted in a related killing.

In October 1995 two men approached Francisco Cabral and his fiancee, Charmaine Felix, as they walked together on a Las Vegas street. One of the men asked Cabral where he was from, and Cabral answered "L.A." The other man then shot Cabral with a Glock 9 mm semiautomatic handgun. Cabral died minutes later.

A month later Felix tentatively identified Flores from a photo lineup as one of the two men. Nearly two years later Felix identified Carlos Escobar as the other man.

Felix had a separate trial. In 1997 police recovered the weapon in the Cabral shooting. Tests showed it was the same one used in both the Cabral shooting and the killing of Daniel Arrequin on Sept. 28, 1995.

Escobar was convicted of the Arrequin murder. There was testimony that Flores and Escobar were friends.

At the Flores trial, evidence was admitted about Escobar killing Arrequin. The Supreme Court ruled that it created a "danger of unfair prejudice" against Flores.