Judge denies new lawyers for Cedar Rapids man accused of killing woman last year

CEDAR RAPIDS — Two lawyers for a Cedar Rapids man charged with beating a woman to death with a wooden board asked a judge Tuesday to withdraw from the case because their client wouldn’t cooperate and doesn’t trust them.

Adrian Haughton, lawyer for first-degree murder defendant Arthur Flowers, 62, said Flowers has told him and his other lawyer, Nekeidra Tucker, that he doesn’t trust them and thinks Haughton is “working against him.”

During the hearing, Haughton said Flowers told a state psychiatrist that he wanted different lawyers and wouldn’t work with them.

Because of the “significant breakdown in communication,” Haughton said they wanted to withdraw.

Assistant Linn County Attorney Jordan Schier, in resisting the motion, said Haughton and Tucker are competent attorneys and there isn’t time to reset the case unless Flowers waives his right to a speedy trial.

Schier said Flowers was asked last week by 6th Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover if he wanted to change lawyers, but Flowers, after the court said he was restored to competency, confirmed he didn’t. The prosecution has rushed to make sure witnesses would be available next Tuesday, when the trial is set to begin.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Hoover asked Flowers if he wanted to stay with his lawyers, and he said “it’s too late in the day to change horses now.”

Hoover denied the change and encouraged Flowers and his lawyers to work together. The trial remains set to begin next Tuesday.

Flowers was found incompetent last July by a psychiatrist at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville.

He was sent for treatment and found competent in January to be tried in the fatal assault of Emily Leonard, 22, of Cedar Rapids, on April 2, 2022.

Flowers called 911 on April 2, and when officers arrived after 6 p.m. at his home in southeast Cedar Rapids, he told them a woman, later identified as Leonard, 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 said they found a bloodied 1-by-6-inch board, which investigators believed was the murder weapon, the criminal 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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