Cedar Rapids man accused in deadly beating of woman found incompetent to stand trial

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man accused of killing a woman April 2 has been found incompetent to stand trial following a July psychiatric evaluation.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover ordered Arthur Flowers, 62, who is charged with first-degree murder, to the forensic hospital at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville based on a doctor’s evaluation conducted in July.

Hoover’s order said the medical director of the hospital will submit a status report regarding restoration of competency progress by Nov. 15.

A status conference is set for Nov. 18 in Linn County District Court.

During a June hearing, Flowers accused his lawyers of incompetency and wouldn’t answer most of Hoover’s questions.

In that hearing, Flowers asked Hoover to represent himself at trial and appoint a standby lawyer to assist him. He said his current public defenders didn’t have experience with murder charges and their caseload was too large to devote time to his case.

Flowers, who contradicted himself at times during Hoover’s questioning, said he had represented himself three times before in murder trials and he understood the criminal justice system because he had been arrested numerous times.

He also made claims of attending more than one college but couldn’t recall them and then said he was self-taught by reading books.

Following the hearing, Hoover suspended proceedings in the case pending an evaluation of Flowers.

Flowers called 911 on April 2 and when officers arrived at his home in southeast Cedar Rapids after 6 p.m., he told them a woman, later identified as Emily Leonard, 22, of Cedar Rapids, had overdosed on heroin.

According to a criminal complaint, Flowers initially attempted to leave when officers arrived but then took them to a bathroom where they found Leonard with “obvious head injuries and blood spatter all over the bathroom.”

The woman’s clothing was in disarray, and police found a bloodied 1-by-6-inch board, which investigators believed was the murder weapon based on the woman’s head injuries, the complaint stated.

Flowers provided details about the incident that were not consistent with the crime scene, police said.

He also appeared to have blood on his hands and was wearing “what he described as” Leonard’s pants when officers arrived, the complaint stated.

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