An appeal has been filed asking the court to overturn the murder conviction against Paul Flores

Two years after his conviction for the murder of Kristin Smart, a Cal Poly freshman, more than 25 years earlier, Paul Flores has filed an appeal, asking the court to vacate or mitigate his conviction and request a retrial.

The 105-page brief was filed Monday with the Second District Court of Appeal in Ventura.

It says “a number of errors marred Flores' trial,” citing each one individually.

The brief, filed by Pleasant Hill attorney Solomon Wollack, argues that motions to dismiss Juror No. 237 were dismissed during the trial, resulting in Flores not receiving a fair and impartial trial from all 12 jurors.

The brief states that the juror “had an emotional outburst during the trial,” “had two additional anxiety attacks during the trial, which she attributed specifically to defense counsel,” “discussed the case with the bailiff and his friends,” and “the Bailiff also informed this.” Their neutrality began to waver.”

The document goes on to explain the juror's alleged behavior in the courtroom. On September 1, 2022, archaeologist Cindy Arrington was sworn in to speak about the results of a 2021 excavation investigation in Flores' backyard. The brief states that Arrington was describing the scientific process of human decomposition in soil when Juror No. 273 “interrupted and said, 'Your Honor, I need a break.'” The juror's comment prompted the court to take an immediate recess and was marked by the defense as a “significant disruption”. Flores' attorney's motion to dismiss Juror No. 273 was denied by the trial court after it found the juror was capable of keeping an “open mind.”

The mid-trial anxiety attacks cited in the quick reference were two different instances throughout the trial. The first case reportedly occurred about a month before the juror's “emotional outburst” when Smart's former classmate Steven Fleming was cross-examined. Juror No. 273 reportedly said in court that she was afraid, which she attributed to the “aggressiveness” of Fleming's questioning, the brief says. The defense requested that the jury be dismissed in light of the fact that Fleming was a former police officer, a fact that in the brief assertions demonstrated a bias in the jury's verdict since she had previously stated that both of her parents worked in law enforcement. The brief states that this request for removal was also rejected by the trial court.

The juror's second anxiety attack during the trial reportedly occurred later in the trial when Jennifer Hudson, a woman who claimed Flores told her in 1996 where he hid Smart's body, took the stand, according to testimony. Juror No. 273 reportedly submitted a note asking for a “brief break” out of fear and later cited the defense's “aggressive” questioning of Hudson as a reason, the brief says. Although the juror denied that the emotions would affect her impartiality at trial, defense counsel argued for the juror to be dismissed because the incident – combined with previous incidents – indicated a “pattern of bias against the defense,” according to the document mentioned . The brief states that the court again rejected this request.

The final issue raised in the appeal document regarding Juror No. 273 describes the juror's Pinterest page and reported conversations outside the courtroom. According to the brief, the court learned late in Flores' trial that the juror had interacted with posts on Pinterest about various home improvement tips; One post purportedly contained information about testing soil pH. The juror reported that “the tips came prior to her selection as a juror in this case” and also denied that she had conducted her own online research outside of the trial, the document said.

Additionally, the brief states that Juror No. 273 admitted that she knew people who had listened to a viral podcast detailing the case, but that she advised against speaking to those people about the matter discuss. The defense attorney claimed the juror's comments showed she discussed her involvement in Flores' trial and requested her removal for the fourth time. However, the brief states that the trial court denied the motion on the grounds that “it would be strange if no one knew why” Juror No. 273 missed a lot of work due to the trial.

In 2021, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office charged Flores with first-degree murder during the commission of rape or attempted rape in connection with Smart's 1996 disappearance. However, the recently filed brief said there was no evidence that Flores sexually abused Smart. “The trial court admitted the highly prejudicial testimony of two women who alleged that he drugged and raped them,” the brief states, continuing: “The court later compounded its error by awarding a lay witness without sufficient basis allowed to testify that Smart's behavior at the party reminded him of his own experiences after being given a date rape drug.”

The brief goes on to say that the prosecution presented no evidence that the murder was premeditated and alleges that the prosecutor used a “particularly inflammatory photograph to portray the complainant as a sex offender – even though the court did not find the photograph in favor character purposes allowed”.

A closing argument states: “The trial court gave two erroneous instructions regarding attempted rape of an intoxicated person – which the prosecutor used as the target crime for his (Flores') first-degree felony murder theory.” The erroneous instructions resulted “that the concrete element of intent of the attempt was removed, allowing the jury to find attempted rape of an intoxicated person so long as a reasonable person would have known that Smart was too intoxicated to resist.”

While Wollock is asking the court to overturn the murder conviction against Flores, he states that an alternative motion would be to reduce the crime to second-degree murder.

Flores has long been a person of interest in Smart's disappearance. He was said to be the last person to see her alive after the two attended the same off-campus party.

After a nearly three-month trial that was moved from San Luis Obispo County to Monterey County, jurors found Flores guilty of murdering Smart, although her body was never found.

Flores was tried alongside his father, Ruben Flores, who was subsequently charged with accessory after the fact. Prosecutors alleged Ruben Flores helped his son cover up the crime.

Both men had separate jurors. Ruben's jury returned a not guilty verdict in his case.

Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in March 2023 after Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O'Keefe denied a request for a new trial.

Flores is currently serving his sentence at Corcoran State Prison, where he was transferred after being assaulted twice at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga.

San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow says he has no comment on the appeal, adding that it is being handled through the California Attorney General's Office rather than his office. Wollack did not respond to KSBY's requests for information.