Did Scott Peterson murder Kristin Smart? Killer could be questioned by Paul Flores' lawyers
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA: Convicted killer Scott Peterson is soon expected to be called to the witness stand at a pre-trial hearing in California for being involved in the 25-year-old case of Kristin Smart, who disappeared. In 2005, Peterson was found guilty of killing his 27-year-old pregnant wife Laci. As per the latest reports, the defense attorney for Smart's alleged killer is asking Peterson to testify based on the slim chance that he knew Smart when she was a student at California Polytechnic State University.
As per the latest reports, lawyers for 44-year-old Paul Flores and his father Ruben Flores, who are charged with murder in the Kristin Smart’s case, want to question the convicted killer as part of an assertion that cops failed to consider other possible suspects in the case. Smart disappeared after attending a party in May 1996 and the nature of that disappearance has baffled authorities - her body was never been recovered in the case.
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Paul Flores had reportedly been under scrutiny for Smart's presumed death when he was arrested and charged with her rape and murder months ago in April. His father was charged with helping to dispose Smart’s body. This is not the first time that Peterson, who had met his wife Laci at Cal Poly, was a potential name in the list of suspects. According to the latest reports, his name was floated as one possibility in the Smart’s case before in 2003. Prosecutors say that Paul Flores killed Smart after trying to rape her in his dorm room. The case had gone cold for more than two decades. However, last year, investigators searched the Flores’ home and arrested him in April.
Peterson was sentenced to death in his wife’s disappearance and murder, but an appeals court overturned the sentence last year, and prosecutors reportedly said in May that they would not pursue the death penalty in the case. He is still serving life in prison. Former Cal Poly campus police investigator Lawrence Kennedy was back on the witness stand and was asked by defense attorneys about the initial investigation into the disappearance of Smart after Memorial Day weekend in 1996.
The cop was asked why the Cal Poly police and other agencies didn’t pursue other potential suspects with links to Smart's disappearance and instead shifted their attention on Paul being the only suspect. He was also asked if investigators at the time had followed up on dozens of "so-called" Smart sightings and tips locally and across the state. As per reports, Kennedy said investigators did chase those leads and nothing panned out or led to any breaks in the case.
As per a legal expert who spoke to Fox, Peterson could take the Fifth Amendment, and a judge would then prevent the testimony. "You cannot call a witness to the stand in a trial that is going to take the Fifth Amendment," Cardoza explained. "A judge would prevent that because it would create an illusion that the person who's taking the Fifth actually committed the crime. So they're not going to be allowed to testify," legal analyst Michael Cardoza said.