Another Texas death row case from the late 1990s is facing scrutiny as laws and science evolve, questioning if the state got it right in the capital murder case of Charles Flores.
Flores, who maintains his innocence and has for 25 years, was sentenced to death row in 1999 after the 1998 murder of Betty Black, who was shot and killed in her Farmers Branch home during a robbery. A neighbor of Black told police she saw two white men with similar tall, slim builds and long hair entering the home before the murder.
While Flores, who is Hispanic, short, stocky with then shaved hair, did not meet the description, the only direct evidence to the crime scene was the testimony of the “hypnotized” witness who had previously described someone who looked nothing like him, according to Flores’s defense team who is fighting to halt the state from scheduling an execution date. Adding that, there was no DNA, ballistics, fiber, or fingerprint evidence connecting him to the crime…