Antwon Banks found guilty of murder in Steckline employee’s death

It took just short of 3 ½ hours for Sedgwick County jurors to decide Antwon Banks killed radio station employee Daniel Flores last February.

Around 3:40 p.m. Tuesday, an eight-man, four-women jury returned a guilty verdict for first-degree murder against Banks, who had been on trial since last week in the 25-year-old’s Feb. 9, 2014, bludgeoning death.

Dressed in a black suit and red tie, Banks stood with his hands cupped behind his back as the verdict was read. Seated in the gallery to his right, Flores’ parents bowed their heads and fought back tears. They embraced supporters who came to hear the verdict after deputies escorted Banks out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

Defense attorney Lacy Gilmour said Tuesday that she and Banks “were disappointed with the verdict.” Banks plans to appeal the decision, she said.

“We had hoped for a different outcome,” Gilmour said. “I think, at best, the evidence was consistent with a second-degree conviction.”

Prosecutors, meanwhile, were “very pleased” with the outcome, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett said.

“The verdict obviously reflects the strength of the state’s case and the amount of effort that went into the investigation,” he said.

Of Flores’ family, Bennett said: “They’re relieved and emotional, but pleased” with Banks’ conviction.

Flores’ parents declined an interview request immediately following the verdict.

An aunt of Banks’ also chose not to speak with reporters.

Banks, 31, faces life in prison without parole eligibility for 25 years when he is sentenced May 22 before before District Judge Bruce Brown. He remains in Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of bond, though prosecutors plan to ask that his bond be revoked while he awaits sentencing.

Flores was found dead in the basement of Steckline Communications, 1632 S. Maize Rd., on Feb. 10, 2014, hours after he was fatally beaten on the head and face with a fire extinguisher. Prosecutors at trial alleged Banks killed Flores in a fit of rage after he came across Banks scrawling hate-filled messages about Banks’ former girlfriend, a Steckline office manager, on hallway walls. Banks, prosecutors said, was upset over their recent breakup and wanted to humiliate his ex-girlfriend in front of co-workers.

Gilmour argued that security cameras footage placing Banks at the Steckline building captured him trying to search for personal papers he thought his ex-girlfriend stashed there – and that he was not Flores’ killer. Banks claimed in a police interview that although he didn’t write the messages, he noticed them while he was there and returned later to wash them away because he thought they would “be damning for him.”

There was no DNA evidence linking Banks to the crime scene, according to trial testimony. An inmate at the Sedgwick County Jail told jurors that Banks disclosed details of Flores’ killing to him – including that he disposed of the fire extinguisher in a Walmart dumpster – while they were housed together in one of the jail’s pods.

Flores, who helped take care of computer and audio equipment for taped broadcasts at the building, was working at the time of the attack.

He had been employed there for about a year.

This story was originally published April 7, 2015 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Antwon Banks found guilty of murder in Steckline employee’s death."