Marine remains free awaiting new trial

Tuesday, July 9, 2002 | 9:26 a.m.

A Marine convicted of sexually assaulting a Las Vegas woman using a date rape drug nearly three years ago remains free on his own recognizance as he awaits a new trial.

District Court Judge Kathy Hardcastle denied the state's motion to reconsider her order for a new trial for Lance Cpl. Raymond Flores and denied the state's request to set bail or take Flores into custody.

Although her original decision to order a new trial in January was based on a confession from another Marine that was later recanted, Hardcastle said Monday that there were other problems with the case that required a new trial.

Flores, 23, was sentenced in January 2001 to 10 to 25 years in prison for the rape of a 32-year-old mother of three in August 1999. He was acquitted of a separate sodomy charge due to lack of physical evidence.

Flores was released from military custody June 26 after the Marine Corps decided not to prosecute him for the sexual assault charges. He had been taken into custody soon after Hardcastle released him in January 2002 and called for a new trial.

Chief Deputy District Attorney William Kephardt told Hardcastle that he believed Flores was a flight risk after his separation from the military.

Lance Cpl. Ryan Fulton -- the Marine who was sharing a hotel room with Flores at the time of the incident and gave a false confession to the sodomy charge -- pleaded guilty in March in a military courtroom in San Diego to obstruction of justice and using and possessing LSD.