Confession doesn’t sway jurors

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2001 | 10:25 a.m.

Eleven of the 12 jurors who convicted a Marine of sexually assaulting a Las Vegas woman last year have signed affidavits saying the confession of another Marine does not change their minds.

Deputy District Attorney William Kephart obtained the affidavits in preparation for a hearing Wednesday in the Raymond Flores case.

Flores, 22, was sentenced to 10 to 25 years in prison last year after being convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting a 32-year-old acquaintance.

His attorney, however, intends to ask District Judge Kathy Hardcastle for a new trial Wednesday because one of Flores' fellow soldiers has since confessed to sodomizing the woman.

Kephart said Ryan Fulton's confession should not affect Flores' case because he was convicted of having intercourse with the woman against her will.

Kephart said he has believed all along Fulton and Flores both sexually assaulted the woman, but there was no physical evidence linking Fulton to the crime.

Flores was linked to the crime through trace amounts of bodily fluids on the victim's clothes.

The 11 jurors have sworn that they are still "comfortable with the integrity and credibility of the verdict" rendered last October.