Kristin Smart’s killer was attacked for a second time at Pleasant Valley State Prison.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) tells KSBY News the prison is investigating the attack on Paul Flores as an attempted homicide.
According to CDCR, prison staff witnessed an inmate stabbing Flores in the recreation yard shortly before 3:30 p.m. Wednesday. “Responding officers quickly quelled the incident using verbal demands,” according to a statement from CDCR, adding that staff found two inmate-manufactured weapons at the scene.
Flores was reportedly treated for his injuries outside the prison before being brought back and was said to be in fair condition as of Thursday morning.
CDCR says no one aside from Flores was injured in the attack.
The name of his alleged attacker has not been released, but CDCR says the inmate has been placed in restricted housing during the ongoing investigation.
Attorney Harold Mesick is representing Flores during the restitution portion of his case and tells KSBY he has limited information on the attack at this time, but said he’s planning to request Flores be moved to another facility.
The attack comes more than seven months after inmate Jason Richard Budrow is accused of using a handmade weapon to slash Flores in the neck on August 23.
Flores, now 47, was hospitalized for a few days before returning to the prison.
Budrow is currently serving two life sentences without the possibility of parole. He has three prior violent felony convictions – the sexual assault of a female minor in 2004, the murder of his ex-girlfriend in 2010, and the killing of his cellmate, Roger Kibbe, also known as the I-5 Strangler, in 2021 - and is facing additional charges related to Flores’ 2023 attack.
Flores was moved to Pleasant Valley State Prison in August of last year to begin serving his 25 years-to-life sentence for Smart’s murder, which he was convicted of in October 2022.
Flores and Smart were both Cal Poly students at the time of her disappearance in 1996. While Flores was a longtime person of interest in the case, he was not charged until his arrest in 2021.
