Judge calls Paul Flores 'cancer to society' as he gets 25 to life for rape and murder of Kristin Smart
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA: Paul Flores who murdered Kristin Smart, 25, a student at California Polytech University, has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Friday, March 10, after more than two decades. Flores was also a student at the same university in San Luis Obispo when Smart vanished in 1996. The case remained unsolved for many years but thanks to a 2020 true crime podcast that forced the authorities to take the necessary action.
"Mr Flores, you have been a cancer to society," Judge Jennifer O'Keefe told Flores according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune. The judge further said, "For 25 years you have lived free in the community and continued to drug and assault women."
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What happened to Kristin Smart?
Flores, 46, was arrested but police were never able to discover Smart's remains. They believe that she was raped by Flores in her dorm room before getting murdered. On May 25, 1996, at around 2 am, she reportedly left an off-campus party along with Flores. He claimed he walked her as far as her dorm but she was never seen again. Three days later a missing person's report was filed. Smart's friends claimed that she was inebriated and Flores reportedly said he would escort her home. Police identified him as "a person of interest" early in the case but still to this day Flores claims that he is innocent.
What did the judge tell Flores?
Flores was called a dangerous predator by the judge on Friday. "This predatory behavior has spanned your adult life," the judge said. "You deserve to spend every day you have left behind bars." He was ordered to pay a total of $10,000 in restitution to his victims. He also has to register as a sex offender for life as he assaulted and killed Smart with the "purpose of sexual gratification and sexual compulsion," O'Keefe said.
'A menace to society'
Smart's brother, Matthew, told the court that Flores was "a menace to society." "Paul chose to take a life, my sister Kristin's life, a beautiful life," he said, according to Daily Mail. "And now he must pay."
Flores was called "a true psychopath" by prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle. He noted that Flores "still maintains his innocence … but we know he lies." "Paul Flores is a true psychopath" who "takes perverse pleasure in raping women," he added. "He murdered Kristin with no remorse. Kristin's family will never see her again," Peuvrella stated.
Flores' father, Ruben, was also charged in connection with Smart's death. According to the prosecutors, the father was an accomplice to the incident and helped his son reportedly by stashing Smart's body under their backyard deck for years. The pair are suspected of moving her remains once suspicion started growing in 2020. Last year in October, Flores was found guilty.
During the trial, one of the items which were shown in the courtroom was an interview at the Arroyo Grande Police Department on June 19, 1996. Flores was asked many times how he got a black eye. "It didn't really matter," Flores said. "It was days later." Flores said, "Why does it matter if I leave out little details?" when he was asked why his story about the black eye changed.
Flores was found guilty of first-degree murder in October, 2022. A separate jury acquitted Ruben Flores, 81, of being an accessory.