Two years after being convicted of killing Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart more than 25 years earlier, Paul Flores has filed an appeal, asking the court to reverse or reduce his conviction and seek a retrial.
The 105-page brief was filed Monday with the Second District of the Court of Appeal in Ventura.
It states “a series of errors marred” Flores’ trial, citing each one individually.
The brief, filed by Pleasant Hill attorney Solomon Wollack, argues requests to discharge juror No. 237 during trial were dismissed, leading to Flores not receiving a fair and impartial trial by all 12 jurors.
The brief states the juror “had an emotional midtrial outburst during key prosecution,” “had two other midtrial anxiety attacks which she specifically blamed on defense counsel,” “discussed the case with the bailiff and friends” while also revealing “to the bailiff that her neutrality had begun to waver.”
The document goes on to explain the juror's alleged courtroom behavior. On Sept. 1, 2022, archaeologist Cindy Arrington was sworn in to speak on the findings from a 2021 dig investigation in Flores' backyard. The brief says Arrington was describing the scientific process of human decomposition in soil when juror No. 273 "interrupted to say, 'Your Honor, I need a break'.'" The juror's comment prompted the court to take an immediate recess and was marked by the defense counsel as a "major, major disruption." Flores' lawyer's request for juror No. 273 to be discharged was denied by the trial court after it deemed the juror as capable of keeping an "open mind."
The midtrial anxiety attacks cited in the brief reference two separate instances throughout the trial. The first reportedly occurred about a month before the juror's "emotional outburst," when Smart's former classmate, Steven Fleming, was cross-examined. Juror No. 273 allegedly expressed to the court that she was experiencing anxiety, which she attributed to the "aggressiveness" of Fleming's questioning, the brief states. The defense counsel requested the juror's removal in light of the fact that Fleming was a former police officer, a fact which the brief claims proved a bias in the juror's judgment considering she had previously stated that both of her parents worked in law enforcement. The brief states this request for removal was also denied by the trial court.
The juror's second midtrial anxiety attack reportedly happened later in the trial when, according to the brief, Jennifer Hudson, a woman who claimed Flores had told her where he hid Smart's body in 1996, took the stand. Juror No. 273 reportedly submitted a note asking for a "short break" due to anxiety, later citing the defense's "aggressive" questioning of Hudson as the cause, according to the brief. Although the juror denied the feelings would retract from her impartiality in the trial, the defense counsel argued for a juror discharge because the incident — in combination with the previous occurrences — indicated a "pattern of bias against the defense," as mentioned in the document. The brief states that the court once again denied this request.
The final issue regarding juror No. 273 raised within the appeal document details the juror's Pinterest page and reported conversations outside of the courtroom. According to the brief, the court learned late in Flores' trial that the juror had interacted with posts on Pinterest featuring various home improvement tips; one post allegedly included information on testing soil pH. The juror reported that "the tips pre-dated her selection as a juror in this case" and also denied that she conducted her own online research outside of the trial, the document states.
Additionally, the brief says juror No. 273 admitted she knew people who listened to a viral podcast detailing the case, but that she discouraged discussion with those people about the matter. The defense counsel claimed the juror's comment indicated that she had discussed her involvement in Flores' trial and requested her removal for a fourth time. However, the brief states the trial court denied the request, saying that "it would be strange if no one knew why" juror No. 273 had missed an extensive amount of work due to the trial.
In 2021, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office charged Flores with first-degree murder during the commission of rape or attempt to commit rape in connection with Smart’s 1996 disappearance. However, the recently filed brief states there is no evidence Flores sexually assaulted Smart. “The trial court admitted highly prejudicial testimony from two women who claimed he had drugged and raped them,” the brief states, continuing, “The court later compounded its error by allowing a lay witness to testify, without adequate foundation, that Smart’s behavior at the party reminded him of his own experience after being given a date rape drug.”
The brief goes on to claim the prosecution did not present any evidence showing the murder was premeditated and alleges that the prosecutor used an “especially inflammatory photograph to portray appellant as a sexual predator – though the court did not admit the photograph for character purposes.”
A final argument states “the trial court gave two erroneous instructions on attempted rape of an intoxicated person – used by the prosecutor as a target crime for his (Flores’) first degree felony-murder theory. The misinstructions had the effect of removing the specific intent element of attempt and allowing jurors to find an attempted rape of an intoxicated person so long as a reasonable person would have known Smart was too intoxicated to resist.”
While asking the court to reverse Flores’ murder conviction, Wollock states an alternative request is to reduce the crime to second-degree murder.
Flores was a long-time person of interest in connection with Smart’s disappearance. He was said to be the last person to see her alive after the two attended the same off-campus party.
Following a nearly three-month-long trial, which was moved out of San Luis Obispo County to Monterey County, jurors found Flores guilty of murdering Smart, although her body has never been found.
Flores was tried alongside his father, Ruben Flores, who was charged with accessory after the fact. Prosecutors alleged Ruben Flores helped his son cover up the crime.
Both men had separate juries. Ruben’s jurors returned a not guilty verdict in his case.
Flores was sentenced in March 2023 to 25 years-to-life in prison after Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe denied a motion requesting a new trial.
Flores is currently serving his sentence at Corcoran State Prison where he was moved after being attacked twice at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow says he does not have a comment on the appeal, adding that it will not be handled within his office but through the California Attorney General’s Office. Wollack has not replied to KSBY’s requests for information.
