UPDATE - The preliminary hearing for Paul and Ruben Flores will now extend into at least next week.
Following closed-door sessions Monday morning, it was announced the objection to podcaster Chris Lambert’s subpoena requiring him to provide documents related to the case won’t be heard until Tuesday, Sept. 7.
Paul's attorney, Robert Sanger, also mentioned Scott Peterson testifying and the possibility of him being available through Zoom. That's also expected to be discussed next week.
Before the afternoon break, a dog handler took the stand.
Gail LaRoque described her dog's training and certifications and reviewed some of the cases they had worked on together over the years.
She worked as a dog handler in 1996, the year Kristin Smart went missing.
LaRoque testified that she focused on human remains detection for 10 years and during her career, was involved with around 200 searches with her boxer, Torrey.
She added that human remains, detection and cadaver equaled around 80 percent of their searches related to forensics.
LaRoque detailed searches she and Torrey conducted together, including finding bodies and human remains at crime scenes, finding people alive, finding people who had died and locations where they had died.
LaRoque says Torrey knew the difference between alive and deceased, testifying that in the mid-90s, there was a large flood in Yuba and Torrey found an elderly woman who had drowned and was pinned underneath her car.
She went on to say that the pair were at the scene of several small plane crashes in the town of Gilroy and that the boxer found body parts in various places.
They also worked over a week to find multiple victims of a dynamite factory explosion in Sparks, Nevada.
LaRoque says Torrey alerted to human remains smaller than a fingernail half a mile from the explosion site, adding that they trained together all the time in various places.
Following the afternoon break, LaRoque talked about a search on June 29, 1996.
She testified that Torrey alerted to Santa Lucia Hall room 128 on the Cal Poly campus, which was Paul's former dorm room.
LaRoque says Torrey alerted specifically to the right side of the room and a mattress that was there along with a trash can on the left side of the room.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Sarah Sanger questioned whether the dog could have been alerting to possible contamination from law enforcement or if the dog was alerting to the other dogs that had been in the room before Torrey.
Laroque said she doesn't ask about possible contamination before a search and that she didn't know if any physical evidence resulted in Torrey's alerts.
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ORIGINAL STORY - The preliminary hearing for Paul and Ruben Flores heads into week 5 Monday.
San Luis Obispo County Superior County Judge Craig van Rooyen will hear podcaster Chris Lambert's objection to a subpoena requiring him to provide documents related to the case.
Lambert may also testify.
The hearing began on August 2 and could last through at least the end of the week.
Once complete, the judge will decide whether there is enough evidence against the father and son to move the case forward to trial.
Both were arrested in April. Paul faces a charge of murder and is being held without bail at San Luis Obispo County Jail.
Ruben is charged with accessory and is currently out on bail.
