Paul Flores’ attorney attempts to overturn murder conviction

October 10, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

Nearly three years after a jury found Paul Flores guilty of murdering Kristin Smart, on Thursday Flores’ attorney asked an appellate court in Ventura County to shorten or end his sentence. Flores’ attorney Solomon Wollack said that judicial errors and misconduct violated his client’s constitutional rights.

A jury in Oct. 2022 found that Flores murdered Smart during an attempted rape following a 1996 frat party held near the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus. Smart had passed out on a lawn outside the party and Flores then helped escort her back to her dormroom. She was never seen again and her body was not found.

The primary suspect in the case, Flores, was sporting a black eye when interviewed by law enforcement who determined he lied repeatedly. Even so, it would be years before Flores faced charges.

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe sentenced Flores to 25 years to life in prison in March 2023.

In his appeal filed in Oct. 2024, Flores accuses the judge of violating his Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by repeatedly declining to remove a juror “who had lost her ability to remain neutral and abide by her oath.” During the hearing on Thursday, Wollack focused on the judges refusal to remove juror 273.

In addition, Wollack argued the judge should not have allowed two women who said Flores raped them to testify because there was no evidence Flores raped or attempted to rape Smart.

During a 2020 raid of Flores’ San Pedro home, deputies discovered multiple rape videos with titles including, “Drugged and raped while passed out” and “Blonde high school girl in skirt gets raped.” Investigators also found two bottles of date rape drugs in Flores’ home.

Wollack also accused the judge of giving Flores’ jury two “erroneous instructions” on attempted rape of an intoxicated person.

California Deputy Attorney General Colleen Tiedemann said that Judge O’Keefe ruled properly during the trial, and asked the court not to dismiss or reduce Plores’ murder conviction.

The appellate court judges are expected to rule within the next 90 days.