Today, Mon. May 17, Paul Flores (44) and his father Ruben Flores (80) will appear in San Luis Obispo Court for their pre-preliminary hearing. The Honorable Judge Craig Van Rooyen is residing.

On Apr. 21, Paul Flores plead not guilty to the murder of Kristin Smart. The sheriff’s office alleges he killed the Cal Poly freshman in 1996 while trying to rape her.

On the same day, Paul’s father, Ruben Flores, pleaded not guilty for accessory after the fact to the murder of Kristin Smart.

Harold Mesick is representing Ruben Flores. Mesick is a criminal defense lawyer based in San Luis Obispo.

Robert Sanger will be representing Paul Flores. Sanger had previously represented Michael Jackson when he was accused of child molestation. Sanger is a criminal defense lawyer based in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.

Representing the People is Deputy District Attorney Christopher Peuvrelle. Peuvrelle came to SLO County District Attorney’s office in 2017 from Riverside’s County District Attorney’s office.

Paul Flores is being held with no bail.

Late at night on Apr. 21, Ruben Flores was released on bail from the county jail. Susan Flores, Paul’s mother and Ruben’s estranged wife was seen posting bail and picking up Ruben from jail.

Ruben Flores was released on a $50,000 bail and on the contingency of giving authorities his passport and complying with electronic monitoring and an ankle monitor.

Then on Apr. 22, Stan and Denise Denise Smart’s attorney James Murphy filed an intentional infliction of emotional distress lawsuit against Ruben and Susan Flores.

Ruben and Susan Flores, along with her boyfriend Mike McConville has been accused of moving Kristin Smart’s body from Ruben’s home at 710 White Ct. just days after the SLO County Sheriffs department served a search warrant in Feb. 2020.

Today’s hearing is a pre-preliminary hearing.

According to a criminal law specialist in Long Beach, “On felony cases, a pre-preliminary conference date is set as well as a “preliminary hearing.”–At the pre-preliminary hearing conference, the defense and prosecution meet to discuss a possible plea bargain on the case. Experienced counsel also use the pre-preliminary hearing conference to obtain all information possible about the case, the witnesses, search and seizure issues and other important facts about the case. Sometimes an experienced criminal law attorney will obtain an order for a physical line-up to test the prosecutor’s eye-witnesses.”

The hearing will be held via Zoom in Department 5 at 1:30 pm.

The hearing will be available to watch here.

This is an ongoing story and will be updated when new information is available.