SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — An attorney of the man found guilty of killing a college student on California's Central Coast has filed a motion for a new trial.
Paul Flores' attorney Robert Sanger also filed a motion for the court to throw out the guilty verdict.
A jury found Flores guilty of killing college student and Stockton native Kristin Smart in Oct. 2022, more than 26 years after her disappearance.
His sentencing is scheduled for Friday, March 10. Flores faces a sentence of 25 years to life.
Sanger submitted the court filing to the Monterey County Superior Court on Friday, Feb. 24.
"A motion for new trial should be granted in this case based on prosecutorial errors and the admission of junk science as evidence as well as the fact that the fact that there was insufficient evidence to find the defendant guilty," according to the motion.
Flores, now 45, attended Cal Poly with Smart and has long been considered a suspect in Smart's disappearance and death.
While her body has never been found, Smart was officially declared dead in 2002.
Paul Flores' father, Ruben, was charged as an accessory after the fact. He was accused of helping bury Smart at his home in Arroyo Grande, near San Luis Obispo, and covering up his son's involvement in Smart's death. A jury found him not guilty in Oct. 2022.
Case history
1996
Paul Flores was one of the last people to be seen with Smart while walking back to the Cal Poly dorms from an off-campus party.
Flores reportedly had a black eye the morning after Smart disappeared. He told campus police he got it during a basketball game.
Paul Flores later changed his story, saying that he got it while fixing his car. He claimed to friends he told police that because he worried law enforcement would think it "sounded stupid" he didn't know how he got his black eye.
2002
Smart was officially declared dead and the case was turned over to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office.
2016
The FBI excavated a site on the edge of the college campus on a hillside about half a mile away from where Smart was last seen with the hope of discovering her remains.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office's Spokesman Tony Cipolla said that FBI officers discovered "items of interest" but did not say what they were.
2020
The Stockton Record reported Denise Smart, Kristin Smart's mother, was contacted by the FBI to expect a big announcement regarding the case.
San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Department conducted searches in two locations within the county. They also looked in Washington state and San Pedro.
The sheriff's department also discussed the work they did from 2011 to 2020:
- Served 18 search warrants
- Conducted physical evidence searches at nine locations
- Reexamination of every piece of physical evidence seized in the case
- Submitted 37 pieces of older evidence for modern DNA testing
- Recovered 140 new pieces of evidence
- Conducted 91 person-to-person interviews
- Wrote 364 supplemental reports
2021
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office searched Ruben Flores' home near the 700 block of White Court in Arroyo Grande in March. Cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar was used, according to a news release.
Paul and Ruben Flores were arrested. Smart's body still hasn't been found.
Watch more on ABC10
