Trial begins in death of 5-year-old LV girl

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002 | 9:57 a.m.

An attorney defending Martha Flores, charged with a single count of murder by child abuse, told jurors Monday that prosecutors will fail to prove that a 5-year-old Las Vegas girl was beaten to death or that the girl's stepmother was responsible.

Defense attorney Joseph Scalia said he will prove that Flores is "not a monster and was not an evil stepmother."

Monday was the first day in Flores' trial. If convicted, the 27-year-old could receive a life sentence with or without the possibility of parole.

Zoraida Flores was pronounced dead at Sunrise Hospital the morning of Jan. 28, 2001, when Flores said she found the child unresponsive in her bed and called 911 from a neighbor's apartment, Chief Deputy District Attorney Doug Herndon said.

Medical experts will testify that the child died as a result of a head injury inflicted within an hour of her death -- an injury similar to those sustained in a car accident or a fall from the second story of a building, Herndon said.

The only people in the Flores apartment at the time of the child's death were Martha Flores and her natural daughter Sylvia, 5, and her 3-month-old son, Herndon said.

Herndon said the daughter told at least three people that she saw her mother strike Zoraida in the head. Sylvia told investigators her mother and Zoraida had been arguing, because the girl had wet the bed and didn't want to take a shower.

Herndon said Zoraida's father, Roberto Flores, will also testify that his wife seemed quicker to anger after the birth of her youngest child and often appeared jealous of his relationship with Zoraida.

Roberto Flores met a pregnant Flores after she placed a newspaper ad asking for children's clothing in August 2000. Roberto Flores responded to that ad and, knowing the woman was close to becoming homeless, he asked her to move in with him, Herndon said.

The two married a short time later so the baby would be covered by medical insurance, and they eventually began a romantic relationship, Herndon said.

The baby was born with a congenital heart defect and suffered from both anemia and colic, which stressed Martha Flores, Herndon said.

Roberto Flores will also testify that on at least one occasion Zoraida was so badly bruised he wanted to take her to the doctor, Herndon said.