Family of woman fatally beaten with rod says 10 years in prison is not enough

CEDAR RAPIDS — A woman, who couldn’t stop crying during her victim impact statement Friday, said she holds Arthur Flowers responsible for her “heartbreak, every day for our baby being no longer with us.”

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Colleen Riley, the mother of 22-year-old Emily Leonard, who was beaten repeatedly with a metal rod by Flowers on April 2, 2022, became so emotional she couldn’t continue her statement during Flowers’ sentencing in Linn County District Court.

Nathan Stant, who stood next to his mother, looked at Flowers and said no amount of punishment would be enough for this “unjust and heinous” killing.

“I am mortified that she got near someone like you,” Leonard’s brother said. “No amount of prison would be enough.”

Linzie Stant, Leonard’s sister, said her life had completely changed because of her sister’s “murder.” It has affected her mental health, and her mother had been hospitalized because of what happened to Emily.

“This is a slap on the wrist,” Linzie Stant said. “Ten years is not enough.”

Flowers, charged with first-degree murder, was found guilty of a lesser charge, voluntary manslaughter, which baffled prosecutors, because the evidence showed Leonard was struck multiple times in the head with a metal rod or pole found on Flowers’ front porch at his southeast Cedar Rapids home. Blood found on the rod matched Leonard’s DNA.

The repeated blows caused multiple skull fractures and a large tear in her scalp, as well as other bruising, cuts and broken bones, according to testimony.

Judge speaks

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Sixth Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover said during sentencing that in her 33 years in the justice system, Leonard’s death was the most “vicious attack” she’d encountered.

Hoover said Flowers “deserves” more than 10 years in prison, but she has no authority to change the jury’s verdict and sentencing for voluntary manslaughter.

Flowers, 62, of Cedar Rapids, said during sentencing he would let the record speak for itself and defer to the judge’s sentencing.

Because there is no mandatory sentence for voluntary manslaughter, Flowers could be paroled after a few years and will get credit for the time he has served in jail since April 2022.

Flowers’ lawyers filed a motion for a new trial and a motion in arrest of judgment, but Hoover denied those before moving on to the sentencing.

Hoover ordered Flowers to pay $150,000 in restitution to Leonard’s estate or heirs, as required by law. The $7,548 in restitution owed to the crime victims assistance program was suspended.

‘Verdict wasn’t just’

After the sentencing, Assistant Linn County Attorney Jordan Schier said he hopes the jury reads about how little prison time Flowers received.

“This verdict wasn’t just,” Schier said. “They need to know they made a mistake. They got it wrong.”

Following the verdict in April, Schier also commented on the lesser charge because voluntary manslaughter is when someone causes the death of another person “solely as the result of sudden, violent, and irresistible passion” as a result of being provoked.

Schier said, at the time, that there was “more than enough” to show Leonard’s death didn’t occur during the “heat of passion.”

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At trial, a state medical examiner testified the blows to Leonard were made at different angles, perhaps as she was trying to move away from the attacker. Leonard had defensive wounds on her hands and arms. She would have died shortly after being attacked, he said.

Flowers said in a police interview that he was asleep in his bathtub, which was only inches away from where Leonard’s body was found by police that day, and he denied knowing what happened to her, according to testimony.

During that interview, he initially said Leonard had overdosed on drugs, after first talking about things that happened years ago.

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Flowers, in that interview, also admitted that he and Leonard had a sexual relationship, but added that sometimes he’s impotent so he tried to have sex with her any time he could. However, he never indicated to investigators the two were fighting, or that she provoked him.

Investigators testified the bathroom of his house was in disarray and covered in blood. There were layers of items that typically don’t belong in a bathroom, which investigators said were piled up to conceal blood spatter and areas on the floor that looked like they had been wiped down to remove blood.

Other crime scene investigators testified that holes were made in the bathroom wall and on the door frame that were consistent with the end of the metal rod.

Flowers didn’t present any witnesses in his defense, and the jury deliberated about five hours before reaching a verdict.

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