Mental exam asked for dad in son’s death

A Clark County public defender for a Texas man charged in the fatal stabbing of his son has asked that her client undergo a mental evaluation before being tried.

Janice O. Williams filed the request Wednesday for Casanoba Florez, 43, of Pleasanton, Texas, asking that he undergo an examination by a psychiatrist or psychologist with the state’s Division of Behavioral Sciences.

Florez is charged with first-degree murder in the March 30 slaying of his son, Casanova Lorenzo Florez, 21, at a Pilot Travel Center on Interstate 30 in Caddo Valley. He also faces a charge of aggravated robbery.

He was held in the Clark County jail in Arkadelphia in lieu of $250,000 bond and released later to house arrest and ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device.

According to an arrest affidavit filed in Clark County Circuit Court, Florez is accused of stabbing his son during an altercation. Caddo Valley police officers reported seeing Florez and his son lying on the pavement of the truck stop’s parking lot after they responded to a call about the fight.

Both had “multiple severe lacerations to their upper bodies,” Caddo Valley Police Chief Aaron Collier wrote in the affidavit.

Video surveillance taken from the store and witnesses’ testimony indicate Florez tried to drive off in his son’s vehicle. Casanova Florez and workers at the truck stop tried to pull Casanoba Florez out of the vehicle when he pulled a knife out.

The father and son fought, each cut by the knife, Collier wrote.

Casanova Florez was taken to CHI St. Vincent hospital in Hot Springs where he died.

Casanoba Florez will be formally charged May 2 in Clark County Circuit Court in Arkadelphia.