Kristin Smart trial: Judge denies ninth motion for mistrial from Paul Flores’ attorney
The jury for Ruben Flores, who is accused of helping his son, Paul Flores, cover up Cal Poly student Kristin Smart’s murder, has reached a verdict.
The jury deliberated for just over a week, accounting for breaks.
The decision comes just two days after a juror was excused for talking about the case with his priest and replaced with an alternate.
The Ruben Flores verdict will not be read until the separate jury for Paul Flores has also reached a decision. That jury is still deliberating.
Paul Flores is on trial in Monterey County Superior Court for the murder of Smart, who went missing following an off-campus party during Memorial Day weekend in 1996.
He was allegedly the last person seen with the freshman as she walked back to her residence hall room.
Paul Flores has long been the “prime suspect” in Smart’s disappearance. Over the years, the case has garnered a cult-like following as it dragged out with seemingly few concrete answers as to what had happened to Smart.
Then in April 2021, both Paul Flores and his father were arrested and charged in her murder.
Throughout the trial, the prosecution alleged Paul Flores killed Smart in the course of an attempted rape, and that his father helped him to hide her body for the past 26 years.
Smart’s body has never been found.
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe told Ruben Flores’ jurors they had to be available to return to the courthouse within an hour once Paul Flores’ jury makes a decision.
The public will also be notified at that time.
O’Keefe said the verdict in Ruben Flores’ case will be locked inside a box until it is ready to be read. Jurors are ordered to not talk about the case or view media about the case until both verdicts are read.
Judge denies motion for mistrial from Paul Flores attorney
Immediately following Ruben Flores’ jury verdict, Paul Flores’ attorney, Robert Sanger, motioned for a mistrial for the ninth time in the Smart case.
Sanger said his investigator, Ramona Messina, saw members of the prosecution’s team hugging the Smart family in front of Paul Flores’ jurors as they were gathered in the hallway outside the courtroom.
Sanger called this “extremely inappropriate” and “really unforgivable,” alleging the conduct could sway jurors’ emotions to a guilty verdict — something he alleged was San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle’s goal during his opening and closing statements.
“A small degree of compassion in my view is entirely appropriate,” Peuvrelle said, adding that Denise and Stan Smart been waiting for an answer in their daughter’s case for 26 years.
O’Keefe denied the motion because jurors have been admonished multiple times per day to ignore anything they see outside of the courtroom by those connected with the case, she said.
In her view, she added, they take those admonishments very seriously.
O’Keefe added that, in an abundance of caution, prosecution team members should avoid doing something similar in the future.
In a hearing later in the day, the judge gave a specific instruction to Paul Flores’ jurors to ignore anything they see parties and witnesses in the case do outside the courtroom, per Sanger’s request.
The jurors were excused after about two minutes.
Then Peuvrelle added to the record that he and San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office investigator James “J.T.” Camp were not the people that hugged a member of the Smart family.
The prosecutor said the people who hugged the Smart family member were San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office Det. Clint Cole and a San Luis Obispo County victim-witness advocate, noting that it is within the advocate’s job title to provide support.
Cole should not have hugged the Smart family member, Peuvrelle said, and he will be filing a memo to clarify what happened despite the motion for a mistrial already being denied.
Sanger responded that San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson, who was present at the courthouse out of uniform, also hugged the family member and held that those who hugged the family “should know better.”
O’Keefe adjourned court without responding to Sanger.
This story was originally published October 17, 2022 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Kristin Smart trial: Judge denies ninth motion for mistrial from Paul Flores’ attorney."
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