GUILTY AR - Kenneth Parks, 45, shot to death, Little Rock, 30 July 2005

A child leads police to a man who allegedly shot a father trying to rescue his own children.

James Flowers, 37, was very quiet being led away by Little Rock police officers after being arrested for murder. He's accused of killing 45-year-old Kenneth Parks as Parks tried to rescue his children during an armed robbery.

Some thought the crime would go unsolved as it happened in July. A child witness remembered Flowers when he saw him several weeks ago in the Wakefield neighborhood. Police admit without the child, the crime may have never been solved.

Sgt. Terry Hastings with the Little Rock Police Department says, "There's always someone around that's seen something, heard someone talking. You can take that information and our detectives are very good at piecing it together and tying it to a suspect."

The night of the crime, several children were having a sleepover in a neighbor’s home. When they heard someone breaking in, they called the children’s parents who lived next door. When the dad came to rescue them, he was shot. He was found dead on South Wakefield Road.

The police report goes on to say the victim's wife saw the suspects get into a minivan. She thought they might harm the kids, so she ran down the street to lead them away. She also feared they would shoot her. The children were not injured and the suspects got a small amount of cash.

http://www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?aid=19859&storyid=21709&bw=

Parks, 45, of 3 Sandhurst Circle was shot in the head as he came out of his home after receiv- ing a call from next door, where his two children were having a “backto-school” gathering with friends. At the time of the robbery, there were seven children between the ages of 10 and 15 in the house, and no adults, police said.
“We’re still looking for other suspects,” said Little Rock police detective Steve Moore.
Two armed men kicked their way into the house, grabbed one of the children, who lived at the house, and asked for the money. The robbers led the children to a bedroom, but one child was able to hide in the closet and call Parks’ home next door.
When Parks knocked at the door, “a large black male walked out armed with a machine pistol and shot Parks one time in the head,” Moore wrote in an affidavit in support of Flowers’ arrest.
The other gunman ran from the home, and the two eventually got into a brown minivan and drove away from the scene.
“None of the children were injured and they said that the suspects only got a small amount of cash even though they seemed to think there was a lot of money at the house,” Moore wrote.
http://www.ardemgaz.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp?Path=ArDemocrat/2005/12/07&ID=Ar01505&Section=Arkansas

From April 2008:

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/ar-supreme-court/1001765.html

James Flowers appeals his conviction for capital murder, his conviction for aggravated robbery, and his sentences of life without parole and four-hundred-eighty months...

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