Kristin Smart murder trial canceled again, judge says. When will it resume?
The Kristin Smart murder trial was put on hold Tuesday for the second time in as many weeks.
“The trial is canceled today” due to a “unexpected juror conflict,” Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe announced Tuesday morning, adding that she and the juror feel bad about the last-minute delay.
Court was previously scheduled to be dark the rest of this week.
The trial against Paul and Ruben Flores kicked off July 18.
Paul Flores, 45, is charged with murdering the 19-year-old Smart in May 1996, and his 81-year-old father, Ruben Flores, is charged with helping hide the Cal Poly student’s body. The two were arrested in April 2021.
Their trial moved to Salinas due to pretrial publicity.
According to O’Keefe, who’s presiding over the case, a member of Ruben Flores’ jury had an unexpected conflict that she had learned about only minutes before the court proceeding was scheduled to begin.
Because the court had already sworn in a few alternate jurors, officials decided to cancel proceedings rather than use another alternate, the judge said.
O’Keefe told both Paul and Ruben Flores’ juries that court proceedings are “actually ahead of schedule” so they do not need to be concerned about this delay lengthening the trial.
It’s the second time the trial against the Flores men has been delayed.
Two days of court proceedings were canceled during the first week of the trial because of an “unexpected delay,” court officials said at the time.
Court proceedings in the case will resume Monday.
The trial is expected to last through October.
This story was originally published July 26, 2022 at 12:01 PM with the headline "Kristin Smart murder trial canceled again, judge says. When will it resume?."
