Killer gets 25 years in 1996 slay of Smart

Paul Flores, the man convicted of killing Kirstin Smart, a California college student who vanished in 1996, was sentenced to 25 years to life Friday. He was given no opportunity for parole.

Flores, now 46, was found guilty in October of the first-degree murder of Smart, whose body has never been found. She was declared legally dead in 2002.

Smart — 19 at the time of her disappearance at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, where she and Flores were freshmen — was last seen alive around 2 a.m. on May 25, 1996.

She was intoxicated and leaving a party with Flores (photo), who has long maintained his innocence. He has claimed he walked Smart part of the way home before returning to his dorm.

During the murder trial, prosecutors argued the pair returned together to his room, where Flores killed Smart during an attempted rape.

Flores was arrested in 2021 alongside his father, Ruben Flores, who was accused of helping his son cover up the crime. The elder Flores was acquitted of being an accessory by a separate jury.

Before Friday’s sentencing, Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe considered defense motions to toss out Flores’ conviction, acquit him and order a new trial.

Attorney Robert Sanger filed the motion last month, alleging Flores’ right to a fair trial was violated because of prosecution errors and “the admission of junk science as evidence.”

“There is a reason that a case against Paul Flores was not brought for 25 years,” the motion said. “There was no evidence of a murder or that Paul Flores committed it.”

However, Judge O’Keefe rejected the motion, denying any prosecution misconduct and calling Flores “a cancer to society.”