A state appeals court docket this week reversed the tried homicide conviction of a person accused of deliberately ramming into an Oceanside bike officer — the second time his case has been reversed on enchantment.
The 4th District Court docket of Attraction in San Diego reversed Robert Ignacio Flores’ conviction, citing abuse of discretion by two totally different judges who dealt with the case. The three-justice panel discovered the judges ought to have agreed to nominate a brand new lawyer for Flores for retrial.
Flores had needed to fireplace his lawyer — the identical lawyer had represented him on the first trial.
Flores was convicted at trial in 2017. However in 2019, the appeals court docket reversed the convictions as a result of Flores’ lawyer didn’t observe the method that Flores needed, which was to insist that he was harmless, though that will not have been the very best authorized technique.
For the retrial in 2021, Flores refused to work with the identical lawyer and repeatedly instructed the court docket of his considerations, in accordance the unanimous opinion written by Administrative Presiding Justice Judith McConnell and issued Tuesday.
The opinion discovered that Flores “didn’t obtain efficient illustration as a result of he had a basic distrust” of his lawyer.
“Slightly than settle for that this apparent battle existed, the trial court docket repeatedly rejected Flores’s concern. … The crime within the case is undoubtedly heinous, however Flores was entitled to counsel with whom he didn’t have an intractable battle and basic distrust based mostly on the prior proceedings,” the opinion reads.
The District Legal professional’s Workplace offered the next assertion in response to a request from the Union-Tribune: “Within the face of the reversal of the jury conviction by the Appellate Court docket and the burden a brand new trial locations on the sufferer and witnesses, we’ll put together for one more trial and are decided to ship justice on this disturbing case of tried homicide of a police officer.”
Authorities say Flores was driving a Dodge Neon when he noticed Oceanside police Officer Brad Hunter in full uniform standing alongside a automotive he had pulled over on Foussat Highway simply south of Oceanside Boulevard.
Deputy District Legal professional Keith Watanabe stated Flores deliberately veered the Dodge and hit Hunter, whom he didn’t know. The officer smashed into the hood and flew over the roof of the Dodge.
The Dodge driver sped off, leaving Hunter unconscious within the highway.
Police discovered the Dodge deserted a number of blocks from the crash website, with Hunter’s handheld radio embedded within the windshield. They discovered Flores at a close-by Sprinter station.
Whereas in jail that evening, Flores bragged to others in custody — they have been truly an undercover officer and an informant — that he hit Hunter as a result of he was a regulation enforcement officer. The 45-minute jailhouse dialog was recorded.
On the time of the crash, Flores was free on bail on a separate matter: a cost of possessing a semi-automatic rifle — a ghost gun assembled by hand. As a result of Flores had a felony on his file, he was not allowed to own firearms.
He was discovered responsible at each trials.
Following his second trial, Flores was sentenced to the utmost of 28 years to life.
