Marines won’t try lance corporal convicted in rape

Kim Smith

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.

A Marine convicted of sexually assaulting a Las Vegas woman nearly three years ago will not be tried by the military and has been released from custody.

Lance Cpl. Raymond Flores remains stationed at the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego, but probably will be administratively separated from the Corps within a week, said Maj. T.V. Johnson, a public information officer for the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Division at Miramar.

"His days of being a Marine are numbered," Johnson said. "Once he's discharged, we will have no control of his comings and goings."

Clark County prosecutors hope to have Flores back in the Clark County Detention Center shortly after he leaves the military.

Johnson said military prosecutors at Miramar asked the Navy's judge advocate general for permission to court-martial Flores on sexual assault charges, but the request was denied.

Military prosecutors wanted to try Flores because problems with Flores' case following his conviction prompted Clark County District Judge Kathy Hardcastle to grant Flores a second trial.

Flores' new trial has not yet been scheduled and prosecutors will ask Hardcastle to reconsider her decision at a July 1 hearing. Deputy District Attorney William Kephart said he intends to ask Hardcastle to have Flores taken into custody.

Flores' attorney, Deputy Public Defender Dianne Dickson, could not be reached for comment.

The judge advocate general's office did not explain its decision, Johnson said.

"They just determined this case is best adjudicated in the civilian courts," Johnson said.

Col. William Durrett, a Marine staff judge advocate, said he will ask that Flores receive an "other than honorable discharge" because of the allegations made against him.

Although Flores can fight his dismissal from the military, Durrett said, "I don't think he'll be successful."

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

The woman told jurors that she was at a local nightclub with friends when she saw Flores, who was an acquaintance of a Marine whom she was dating.

The victim told police and a jury the last clear memory she had of that night was accepting a shot of tequila from Flores.

She awoke nine hours later in a motel room shared by Flores and Lance Cpl. Ryan Fulton, who were stationed in San Diego but were in Las Vegas for military exercises.

Because the alleged assault occurred in Las Vegas, Clark County prosecutors took jurisdiction over the case and successfully prosecuted Flores.

But nine months after Flores was sentenced, Fulton confessed to Marine investigators that he had sodomized the woman and may have committed the rape. He later recanted that confession.

Clark County prosecutors issued a warrant for Fulton's arrest on sexual assault charges, and Hardcastle -- over the objections of prosecutors -- released Flores from prison pending a new trial.

When Fulton recanted the confession in January, he said he was pressured by fellow Marines to help Flores. He also admitted to using LSD in Las Vegas that summer.

About the same time, new DNA tests again linked Flores to the sexual assault, prosecutors said.

Kephart will remind Hardcastle of the recantation and DNA results when he asks her to rescind her decision to give Flores another chance before a jury.

Should Hardcastle agree with Kephart, Flores will return to prison to serve his original sentence.

Fulton in March pleaded guilty in a military courtroom in San Diego to obstruction of justice and using and possessing LSD. He was sentenced to five years' hard labor and a dishonorable discharge.