Artist's Statement (Mario Flores)

     MARIO FLORES was a teenager with a promising future;  A
talented athlete in both soccer and diving. He attained national
recognition as a high school diver. He had a string of
scholarship offers from some of the best universities in the
country, but his hopes were shattered in November of 1984,
shortly after he graduated. Mario and three other teenagers were
arrested in connection with a fatal shooting that occured during
a traffic accident disupute on New Year's Eve, 1983-84.

It would take 11 months for the lead detective assigned to
investigate the case (who, incidentally, was the boyfriend of the
victim's mother) to come up with a witness who would place
Mario's car at the scene of the traffic accident on New Year's
Eve.  Yet, no physical evidence has ever been produced to connect
Mario (or the other three teenagers) to the commission of the
offense.  Mario was convicted by the sole testimony of three
convicted felons who testified in exchange for immunity.

According to the prosecution witnesses, Mario and two other
companions had stopped at the scene of a fierce car accident
around 2:00 a.m. to render their assistance. As the drivers of
those vehicles (a young male Hispanic and a young Hispanic woman)
argued over the collision, the male driver began to verbally
torment the female driver and he threatned to shoot her. Mario,
allegedly, became angered at this abuse and decided to intervene
on her behalf. Infuriated, the male driver identified himself as
a member of a Chicago street gang and then rushed to his car to
retrieve his gun, with which he intended to shoot Mario and the
lady driver. However, Mario's companion falsely portrayed
themselves as allied gang members and lured the male driver to a
nearby alley where, allegedly, Mario shot him several times and
one of the companions took a necklace from the deceased after the
shooting.

Based upon these allegations, Mario and his alleged co-defendants
were charged with murder during the course of an armed robbery, a
capital offense.  Without ever knowing about the existence of an
alibi, it took the jury only 70 minutes to convict Mario of
Capital Murder; and, despite the absence of a significant
criminal history, it took them only 3 hours to conclude that
Mario was no longer worthy of life.

At the time of his arrest and during a grueling 19 hour police
interrogation, Mario denied any involvement whatsoever in the
incident, and gave police a list of alibi witnesses who would
account for his whereabouts at the time of the offense. Mario
continues to proclaim his innocence. In 1996, one of the
named co-offenders signed an affidavit claiming that other
co-offenders had, in fact, falsely accused Mario. In 1997, it was
discovered that the witness who placed Mario and his car at the
scene of the traffic accident was not only involved with the lead
detective in this case, but she was also the mother of the only
other suspect in this homicide.  In spite of the agony for
something he did not do, along with the emotional ups and downs
of legal proceedings--which is the emotional equivalent of
death--Mario has maintained a good disciplinary prison record and
has continued his education by becoming a licensed lawyer's
assistant. For the past five years, an exquisite collection of
oil paintings has made him a rising celebrated artist with
international recognition.  During his exhibits in Mexico City,
the Mexican press lauded his paintings as follows:

      At times, the invisible spectre of death, at a distance
      of drowning a man in despair, motivates the spirit:
      such is the artistic expression of the Mexian (artist)
      Mario Flores Urban (who is) sentenced to suffer the
      death penalty in a U.S. prison. . .
      (La Jornada (Newspaper) Sec. A, p. 49, December 5, 1997
      Mexico City)

Mario's paintings are distinguished by uncanny attention to
details, color, and shades, giving them a realistic effect. His
subjects include landscapes, seascapes, architectural structures,
land and sea animals, soutwestern art, Mexican folklore, and
portraits.

Mario is currently on death row at the Pontiac Correctional
Center in Pontiac, Illinois. He has exhausted all of his state
remedies, and he is currently appealing his conviction and death
sentence in the U.S. District Court.

   "If prisons are a monument to society's failures, then I would
    like for my paintings to be a small monument to the freedom
    and will of the imprisoned human soul."  (Mario Flores, 1998)

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((THIS FACT-SHEET HAS BEEN PROVIDED BY THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE
RELEASE OF MARIO FLORES - CRMF)).

Send mail to Mario Flores at mario@venus.soci.niu.edu