Kristin Smart murder trial enters fourth week of testimony, evidence
SALINAS - One of the last people to to see Kristin Smart alive, as she left an off-campus party at Cal Poly, took the stand in her murder trial in Monterey County on Monday, the testimony marked the start of the fourth week of a case that began after Smart disappeared in 1996.
Tim Davis, a junior at Cal Poly in 1996, took the stand to share what he recalled from the off-campus party at a house on Crandall Way, a location that has been a key part of the prosecution's case as it was the last place Smart was seen leaving and witnesses say it's where she interacted with Paul Flores.
Flores, a Cal Poly freshman in 1996, is charged in Smart's death. His father, Ruben, also on trial for charges of hiding evidence, as prosecutors say he helped his son hide her body in his backyard over Memorial Day weekend 1996.
Davis told the jurors, when asked by San Luis Obispo Deputy District Attorney Chris Peurvelle, that he saw Smart at the party as well as Paul Flores. He walked jurors through the layout of the house and explained context as to where it was in relation to campus.
CBS contributor Nicolás Viñuela noted that Davis remembered the details of the Crandall Way house more than any other witness so far in the trial. Davis is one of a dozen former Cal Poly students who have been called as witnesses in the trial.
Davis said he, Smart and Flores interacted at the party, both at the bar area "a few times," he said. He told the court he remembered Smart fell during the party and heard a loud thud.
"It appeared to me that they had fallen on the ground. A few feet away from me," Davis said.
Davis said he saw Smart laying down, laughing, and Flores was doing the same. He told jurors Monday both were "probably pretty embarrassed" that they fell.
"I think I remember them drinking together at the bar," Davis said.
He was asked about the amount of alcohol he drank on the Friday night of the party, and in response he said he could vividly remember the whole night.
"I've had to relive that night for 26 years because of this case," Davis said.
Davis said when it came time to leave and the party wrapped, he saw Smart on a nearby lawn. He described her state as though she looked like she wanted to sleep, but was "face down" on the ground. Davis, at this point, was responsible for telling people to go home. He was not angry when he saw Smart in the state she was in, but rather, he said his focus was "college party management."
He told Smart she couldn't stay on the nearby lawn and didn't want any law enforcement to be involved. As it was later in the night, in an area near the Central Coast, temperatures were cooler and Davis said Smart "looked very cold." It's at this point, he explained, he would have to help her out to get home but quickly realized she couldn't do that alone.
Davis picked up Smart and put his arm around her waist before he, Cheryl Anderson (another Cal Poly student, who testified last week) and Paul Flores headed towards the dorms. This, he clarified, stood out to him because he said Flores "just kinda came out of the darkness."
This, Davis said, is when Flores joined the group to walk towards the dorms. Davis recalled Flores told him, "I got her from here." Anderson told Davis she would go with Flores and Smart, knowing that Davis lived in the opposite direction. Davis said it was a "simple walk" to the dorms and gave Smart to Flores who was "supporting her" at this point in the night.
Davis noted Flores never asked what dorm Smart lived in. "She was just like a sack of potatoes," Davis said.
Flores walked on his own, Davis said: "It didn't appear to me that he was... unable to get Kristin back to her dorm."
He noted that in the distance, when he broke from the group, he could see Anderson, Smart, and Flores headed towards the dorms. Smart was hung over Flores' shoulders, her arm around his neck, his arm around her waist.
In cross-examination by Robert Sanger, Paul Flores' attorney, Davis was asked about his "annoyance" over the years about the number of times he's been questioned by law enforcement. Sanger then asked Davis to clarify about what Flores was wearing on the night Davis described to prosecutors.
Sanger: "Do you recall telling an officer that he was wearing a red had?"
Davis: "I'm sure if I said he had a red baseball cap on shortly after this happened then he probably had a red baseball cap on."
Sanger asked how well he knew Smart, who introduced herself at the off-campus party as, "Roxy." Sanger said, "She could've done all sorts of things and you wouldn't have seen it."
Davis agreed, "true," he said.
Sanger asked about other people who may have been in the area as Davis assisted Smart off the nearby lawn and started to head towards the dorms. He asked if Davis remembered other groups leaving the party and said that Davis, in one interview with law enforcement, said Flores was walking around with people from the other party.
Harold Mesick, Ruben's attorney, had a line of questions next. He asked Davis if he remembered telling Peurvelle last year, "I wanna put this effing guy away."
Davis confirmed he was in court Monday to put Paul Flores away.
In other round of questions from Sanger, Davis was asked if he ever told investigators that Paul Flores came out of the bushes. Davis responded, "I don't know specifically where he came from," and only remembered Flores coming from the side.
Sanger: "I don't want to argue with you."
Davis: "I'm saying that when we walked up the hill he joined us from the side."
Davis was excused before the Monday lunch break but is subject to recall, which means, he can be recalled back to the witness stand.
Friend of Paul Flores takes stand Monday afternoon
Jeremy Moon, a high school student at Arroyo Grande High School, shared that he and Flores used to hang out sometimes once or twice a month. "He would just pop in," Moon said.
On Memorial Day weekend 1996, Moon said they hung out but didn't remember what they did. He couldn't remember if he was picked up or dropped off. When showed a previous statement, Moon said: "I don't recall picking him up," and "I don't remember the rest of the evening, what we did."
"I noticed Paul had a black eye," said Moon. Paul's explanation to his friend, at the time, was that he woke up with it. This, a different story than Paul would tell investigators. Paul said he got it playing basketball the same weekend when he talked to investigators, but on Monday, Moon said: "I don't remember Paul getting hit in the face during the game."
Paul, in conversations with Moon on the same weekend, did not mention Smart or the fact that a Cal Poly student was missing.
In cross-examination, Sanger asked Moon about previous statements he'd given to law enforcement. One question Sanger asked: "Do you recall telling that investigator that you didn't see any marks on Paul Flores's face?"
Moon said he did not recall. He gave the same answer, that he didn't recall, after he was asked about telling investigators Flores' black eye came after Memorial Day weekend.
Sanger asked Moon if he recalled at any time telling any officer that Sunday of Memorial Day weekend Moon didn't see any marks on Flores' face. Moon said he does not recall saying that.
Moon said he recalled that he saw a black eye on Sunday, May 26, 1996, two days after the off-campus party where Smart was last seen leaving alive.
Sanger doubled down on questions about Moon's timeline, that in some interviews, he shared that they did not play basketball over the holiday weekend, but that Monday, he said they did.
"That's a pretty big discrepancy in the testimony, isn't it?" asked Sanger.
Moon said it would make sense they played on a Monday of a holiday weekend, as there was likely no school.
Moon will be recalled to the witness stand again, "at least twice if not more," according to Peurvelle. This means, jurors will hear from him again in the future of the trial, that is expected to last until October.
Cal Poly investigator takes the stand Monday
Lawrence Kennedy is a retried investigator for the Cal Poly Police Department and told the court he was contacted on the Monday after Smart disappeared. He was told, at that time, she didn't return to her on-campus dorm after the party on Friday night and was still missing.
He said: "We immediately started to work on the case," when the department learned a student had disappeared.
Kennedy said there was an interview Tuesday in Flores' dorm room in Santa Lucia on-campus housing. He did not think there was anyone else in the room but them because the rooms are not very big and he didn't recall if he called Flores before the in-person interview.
Kennedy wrote in his report Flores was, "very nervous," and told Kennedy "he thought he was there to arrest him," for an outstanding warrant for driving with a suspended license. Flores noted to Kennedy at the time he took care to get the warrant recalled.
The Thursday of Memorial Day week, May 30, 1996, Flores was interviewed at the San Luis Obispo police station, a quarter mile from his Cal Poly dorm. The bruising under his eye was still there and noticeable.
In this interview, he was asked about Smart, and said it was a "slow walk" because Smart was inebriated. In the same interview, he told police he "didn't know how he ended up walking back with her." He told investigators he gave her a hug and left her, but had no other contact. He also mentioned he ran into someone at Santa Lucia when he returned from walking Smart home, he said, and Kennedy told him that person will have to be interviewed by police, too.
Kennedy was not able to find the person Flores said he saw that night. Kennedy told the court he noticed scratches on Flores' knees, "looked like a scrape of some kind," and this is when, Kennedy said, the black eye and the scratches came from basketball.
Kennedy will start on the stand Tuesday morning, the trial will resume.
Nicolás Viñuela is a CBS contributor to this post and is a general assignment reporter for the Mustang Daily News.
