Killer seeks new trial in rape, slaying

The attorney for a convicted rapist and murderer told a panel of Nevada Supreme Court justices on Tuesday his client deserves a new trial, in part because the jury heard that police and prosecutors believe he might be a serial killer.

Norman "Keith" Flowers, 36, was convicted in October 2008 of the sexual assault and murder of Sheila Quarles, 18, of Las Vegas, on March 24, 2005. Flowers' DNA was found in the body of Quarles, the daughter of his former girlfriend.

On May 3, 2005, the body of Marilee Coote, 45, was found in her Russell Road apartment. Like Quarles, she had been raped and strangled. Flowers' semen was present, and she had vaginal injuries.

Eight hours later, at the same apartment complex, the body of 24-year-old Rena Gonzalez was discovered. She had been strangled with a telephone cord.

Police could only loosely link Flowers to Gonzalez. But they charged Flowers in all three cases.

During the trial in the Quarles case, the jury was told about the attack on Coote but not about Gonzalez.

"This case was overwhelmingly infected," said Special Deputy Public Defender Randall Pike, who argued the cumulative errors deprived Flowers of a fair trial.

Flowers already was being held in the Clark County Detention Center charged with Coote's rape and murder, when detectives questioned him regarding the similar sexual assault and killing of Quarles.

After speaking to detectives, Flowers invoked his right to remain silent.

Pike told justices that Judge Stewart Bell allowed the detective to testify Flowers was uncooperative. The lawyers also said the judge improperly allowed the jury to hear testimony from a DNA analyst who relied on another analyst's report and that police did not properly investigate another suspect.

Prosecutor Pam Weckerly said, "This case likely would have gone unsolved but for the fact he committed two other homicides." She told the high court that Bell severely limited the scope of testimony related to the Coote case.

In addition to determining whether the jury should have heard about Coote's slaying, the Supreme Court also must decide if gruesome autopsy photographs unduly influenced the jury and if police improperly continued questioning Flowers after he invoked his right to remain silent.

Flowers, who previously spent 10 years in prison, had been paroled twice and was out of prison for about 20 days when he killed Quarles.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but the jury, which decides the sentence in capital murder cases, gave Flowers a term of life without the possibility of parole after hearing mitigating testimony. Family members said Flowers was physically and sexually abused as a child.

Regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, the future remains uncertain for Flowers.

He will be tried for the rape and slaying of Coote in June. Prosecutors again will seek the death penalty, and in that case would be able to use the sexual assault and murder of Quarles to bolster their case.