By Sunny Zhou
MONTEREY, CA – The Associated Press said this week Paul Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the killing of Kristen Smart, a 19-year-old that vanished from California Polytechnic State University in 1996.
According to the Associated Press, investigators conducted dozens of searches over the course of two decades for Smart’s remains, to no avail. She was declared legally dead in 2002.
The AP reported that, in the past two years, investigators turned to the Arroyo Grande home of Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, located about 12 miles south of the state university. A casket-sized disturbance in the soil and the presence of human blood was discovered underneath the deck of the house, according to prosecutors, though it was too degraded for a DNA sample to be extracted.
In 2021, Flores was arrested along with his father (81), who was charged as an accomplice. The defense successfully argued for the trial to be held in Salinas, about 110 miles from San Luis Obispo, on the basis that the notoriety surrounding the case would prevent a fair trial, said the AP.
In October 2022, a Monterey County jury convicted Flores of first-degree murder. A separate jury acquitted his father of being an accessory.
At Paul Flores’ trial, defense attorney Robert Sanger attempted to pin the murder on Scott Peterson, who was convicted in 2004 for the murder of his pregnant wife and unborn son. At the time of Smart’s disappearance, Peterson was also a student at Cal Poly, said the AP.
On Feb. 24, Sanger filed separate motions to dismiss the charges & acquit Flores and seek a new trial. He argued that Flores’ right to a fair trial had been violated by prosecutorial errors and “the admission of junk science as evidence. There is a reason that a case against Paul Flores was not brought for 25 years. There was no evidence of a murder or that Paul Flores committed it,” the AP reported.
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office, said AP, requested the court deny the motions on the basis that “claims of misconduct are baseless and the claims of judicial error are incorrect.”
