Dozens of media members from across the state, as well as journalists from national outlets, descended upon the Salinas Courthouse Monday morning as the murder trial began for the man last seen with Kristin Smart at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1996.
Multiple TV cameras sat outside the courthouse Monday morning into the afternoon, while prosecutors presented their opening argument to a packed courtroom. Additional journalists watched video of the trial upstairs in a separate courtroom.
In April, a judge moved the trial north to Monterey County after ruling Paul Flores, 45, would be unable to get a fair trial in San Luis Obispo County. Flores’ father, 80-year-old Ruben Flores, was charged with helping dispose of Smart’s body, which was never found. Both men pleaded not guilty.
Ruben Flores sat in the audience with Susan Flores, the mother of Paul Flores, during opening statements for the Paul Flores case. The opening statements for the Ruben Flores case were scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Prosecutors argue that Flores killed the 19-year-old during an attempted rape on May 25, 1996, in his dorm room at Cal Poly, where both were first-year students. His father allegedly helped bury the slain student behind his home in the nearby community of Arroyo Grande and later dug up the remains and moved them.
Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle started his opening arguments by explaining how Kristin Smart would call her parents to talk every Sunday after she went away to college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, but 1,359 Sundays have passed since the tight-knit family heard from her.
“During her freshman year, they looked forward every Sunday to a cheerful phone call from her,” Peuvrelle said. “It was their ritual.”
The prosecutor went on to lay out his case, pointing at Flores repeatedly as he mentioned him during the opening argument. Peuvrelle said Flores and Smart attended a party together near their college campus on the night Smart was last seen. He said witnesses will testify during the trial that Smart was incapacitated and could barely walk when Flores was seen taking her to his dorm room.
The prosecution played a recording obtained via wiretap of a phone call between Paul Flores and his mom in which she tells him: “I need you to listen to everything they say so you can punch holes in it,” referring to a podcast about Smart’s disappearance called “Your Own Backyard.” San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson credited the podcast with helping break the case open in 2021.
Defense attorney Robert Sanger started his opening arguments Monday morning before the courtroom entered into its lunch recess. He argued that Susan Flores said what any mother would, that it wasn’t incriminating and was just one small part of a 27-minute conversation.
Sanger said the Flores family has been harassed at their homes since Smart disappeared, explaining that billboards about the case across San Luis Obispo County were part of the reason the trial was moved north. He said there was a concerted media campaign against Flores in the area and stated that detectives provided information to the media and the “Your Own Backyard” podcast before any charges were made.
“The is no evidence of what happened to her after Paul Flores left her at the dorms,” Sanger said.
Sanger pointed to the fact that there were no eyewitnesses to the murder and nobody was ever recovered.
“The fact is that there is a lot of sort-of evidence,” he said.
A total of 40 people were selected to serve on two separate juries to weigh the evidence against each of the defendants. The trial is expected to last for about four months.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
