Kristin Smart case: Jury reaches verdicts in Paul and Ruben Flores trial
SALINAS -- The juries deliberating in the trial of the murder of Kristin Smart have now reached a verdict for both Ruben and Paul Flores.
Both verdicts will be read at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Paul Flores was charged with first-degree murder. It is alleged he caused Smart's death while in the commission of or attempt to commit rape. Ruben Flores, Paul's father, is charged with accessory after the fact to the crime of murder. The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office alleges Ruben helped conceal smarts body after she was murdered.
The father and son's cases were put together in a Monterey County courtroom in Salinas, but they are being tried separately. The verdict of one jury will not be influenced by the other. They will be read in courts at the same time, one after the other.
The trial was moved out of San Luis Obispo County after a judge ruled that the father and son Flores may not receive a fair trial due to intense media coverage around the case for more than 20 years.
Smart disappeared during her freshman year at Cal Poly in May 1996. She was last seen leaving an off-campus party and Flores has long been a person of interest in the case, but was only formally charged in April 2021.
The night she left the off-campus party, witnesses who testified in this trial told the court that Paul Flores said he would walk her home. Smart was intoxicated, according to witnesses at the party, and Paul Flores said he would walk her to her dorm.
Paul's attorney, Robert Sanger, argued that Flores got Smart home safely and the last time he saw her she was alive.
The more than 12-week trial included testimony from Smart's family, friends, forensic experts, and three women who accused Paul Flores of sexual assault as an adult in Southern California.
In archive interviews with CBS13, Smart's mother Denise told CBS13 she believed that Paul and Ruben Flores had information about her daughter's disappearance. The family has long been silent about the accusations Paul had anything to do with Smart's death.
Last week, after deliberations had gotten underway, it was revealed a juror on Ruben's jury spoke about the case with his priest. That juror was dismissed and replaced with an alternate. Ruben's jury had to restart deliberations on Friday.
Media will be given at least 40 minutes' notice when before both verdicts are read in court.
