Who will oversee Kristin Smart murder trial? Monterey County court names presiding judge
Three weeks after a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge ruled to move the Kristin Smart murder trial to Monterey County, officials have announced a venue and named the judge who will preside over the case.
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe will oversee the trial, which will be held at the Salinas courthouse, according to court spokeswoman Norma Ramirez-Zapata.
Ramirez-Zapata told The Tribune via email that there is not a case number or hearing scheduled at the moment.
O’Keefe was appointed to the bench in March 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
She served as a deputy public defender at the Monterey County Office of the Public Defender from 2010 to 2017, and then served as chief public defender until her judge appointment in 2021.
Paul Flores, 45, is alleged to have killed Cal Poly student Kristin Smart after an off-campus party in May 1996.
His 80-year-old father, Ruben Flores, is accused of helping hide the 19-year-old’s body, which still has not been found. The two were arrested in April 2021 — 25 years after Smart’s disappearance.
San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen ruled in March that Paul and Ruben Flores could not receive a fair trial in San Luis Obispo County because of pretrial publicity of the case.
On April 20, the judge announced that the new venue for the Smart murder trial would be in Monterey County.
The trial is currently scheduled to begin on May 31. However, no preliminary hearings have been scheduled and the case was not showing up in Monterey County’s Superior Court online case search as of Tuesday.
The Flores trial is the fourth SLO County criminal trial in the past five decades to move locations, with the most recent being the 2001 trial of serial killer Rex Krebs. He was tried in Monterey County.
A San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge remained on the Krebs case after it moved to Monterey County. His trial date was moved back nine months from when it was originally scheduled.
It is unclear whether the starting date of the Flores trial will be pushed back.
This story was originally published May 4, 2022 at 5:04 PM.
