The trial against the men accused of killing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart and hiding her body is being pushed back by a week, a Monterey County Superior Court official announced Sunday.
The start date is being postponed due to “a health concern among one of the trial participants,” court executive officer Chris Ruhl wrote in an email.
Paul Flores, 45, is accused of murdering Smart after an off-campus party in May 1996. His father, 81-year-old Ruben Flores, is accused of helping hide her body. The two men were arrested in April 2021.
The trial against the Flores men was moved to Salinas after San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen ruled that they would likely not receive a fair trial in San Luis Obispo County because of pretrial publicity.
Screening of more than 1,500 prospective jurors in the Kristin Smart murder trial began June 13 in Salinas.
Jury selection for Paul Flores was supposed to begin June 20 and jury selection for Ruben Flores’ was scheduled to start June 27. The defendants are getting one trial with two separate juries and two verdicts.
Now, Paul Flores’ jury selection is scheduled to begin June 27, and the start date for Ruben Flores’ jury selection is “to be determined.”
“We will provide a later update on that,” Ruhl wrote.
It’s unclear whether this postponement will also push back opening statements, which were scheduled to start July 6.
According to Monterey County court public information liaison Norma Ramirez-Zapata, 390 people in the total juror pool will be returning to the next phase of jury selection.
Those who were already excused were mostly due to cost hardships or legal conflicts, such as a similar crime happening to them or someone they know.
There will be about 270 people in the jury selection pool for Paul Flores, and about 120 for Ruben Flores.
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