Kristin Smart Murder Trial: Sheriff's office leaked information prior wiretapping Flores' phones
SALINAS -- A former deputy sheriff with the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office testified in court Tuesday that he was aware the department leaked information to a podcast credited with reigniting interest in Kristin Smart's disappearance.
Smart, a Stockton native, disappeared over Memorial Day weekend 1996 during her freshman year at California Polytechnic State University. Paul Flores, her former classmate, was named a person of interest in her disappearance shortly after she was last seen, but had never been formally charged in her death until 2021.
His father, Ruben, is charged with helping his son hide evidence, specifically, Smart's body that prosecutors argue was once buried in Ruben's backyard in Arroyo Grande.
Gregory Smith, a 15-year deputy sheriff at the SLO Sheriff's Office, oversaw the wiretap, also known legally as a wire intercept, of Paul, Ruben, Susan (Paul's mother and Ruben's ex-wife) and Ermelinda (Paul's sister) phones. The wiretap was in place from January to February 2020.
During this time, a San Luis Obispo County judge requested an update on the case every five days. Police would report information and the judge would then decide whether to continue allowing permission to record. Permission was granted for 30 days.
On a call near the end of January, police recorded a phone call between Paul and Susan Flores. Jurors heard it played aloud in court on Tuesday. Susan is overheard in the call telling her son: "I need you to make the call."
Susan: "They're gonna work together, these four attorneys, if we ever get to that point."
Susan: "The other thing I need you to do... start listening to the podcast, I need you to listen to everything they say so we can punch holes in it wherever we can."
The podcast she's referred to on the call, is "Your Own Backyard Podcast". Its creator, Chris Lambert, spoke to CBS13 at the start of the trial and said it's "surreal" to have the podcast, which he started out of curiosity after silence on the case for an extended period of time, be mentioned as often as it is. Lambert noted to CBS13, however, that his name and the podcast are mostly mentioned by the defense, not the prosecution, who have openly said they believe the podcast wrongly targeted the Floreses father and son.
Robert Sanger, Paul's attorney, asked Smith about what he knew on the podcast. He noted by the time the wiretap was approved there had been multiple episodes released publicly.
Sanger: "The podcasts were pretty much focused on Paul Flores as the suspect, right?"
Smith: "Not all the episodes."
After an objection by San Luis Obispo Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle and a private conversation between Peuvrelle, defense attorneys, and the judge, Sanger came back with another question for Smith.
Sanger: "Were you aware that some of the titles were, 'he Only Suspect', 'Their Own Backyard', 'Son of Susan', that sound right to you?"
Smith responded that was accurate. What followed, was the acknowledgment that the SLO Sheriff's Office released information to Lambert for the podcast to get the Flores family talking.
"The idea being that if you can put something provocative out there and the podcast out there, that might make the Flores family talk about it on the phone." said Sanger who added the move was, "trying to get the Flores family to say something incriminating"
"Yes, that's the purpose of the wire," said Smith in response.
Sanger noted that in the recorded conversation which included Susan asking Paul to listen to the podcast so they could "punch holes" in it, there were 20 minutes worth of conversation that was left out. He added that Susan did most of the talking, not Paul, who listened for the majority of the call.
Ruben's backyard prosecution's focus for Smart's missing body
Jurors heard more testimony from a human remains dog handler, but this time, the search was not at Cal Poly but rather, at the White Court home in Arroyo Grande where Ruben lived.
The search took place in March 2021. The handler, Kristine Black, told the court her K9, Annie, has several hundred hours of certified training and experience in finding the scent of human remains.
In the process of this search Black explained, Annie did not alert to human remains in the backyard of Ruben's home, but her demeanor changed when they began to search under the deck in the backyard.
"Annie basically just stopped right there and I reported that information to Detective Cole," said Black.
Annie alerted Black that "she was in odor" which meant she identified human-remains odor. What struck Black as notable, is Annie did not go into her "final wait" which signals to the handler this is the final spot.
"The changes of behavior…I was surprised not to see her go to final. But if something had been physically removed or disturbed," said Black.
Defense attorneys for both Paul and Ruben asked multiple questions about other reasons that Annie did not give a final response.
The trial will resume Wednesday in Monterey County.
Nicolás Viñuela is a CBS contributor to this post and is a general assignment reporter for the Mustang Daily News.
