Jury deliberations to resume in Kristin Smart murder case. Here’s how to get a verdict alert
Jurors deciding in the Kristin Smart murder trial will resume deliberations Thursday after a three-day break.
At the time the break was scheduled, the trial was expected to last through mid- to-late October, Monterey County Superior Court officials said in an email. The court decided to keep the break despite jurors beginning their deliberations.
Paul Flores’ jury has been deliberating for just over three days, while Ruben Flores’ jury has been in deliberations for about two and a half.
Paul Flores is accused of killing Smart, a 19-year-old Cal Poly student who vanished in 1996 following an off-campus party, while his father, Ruben Flores, is accused of helping his son hide Smart’s body.
So far, jurors have not had any questions for the court about the evidence they have heard, Monterey County Superior Court’s executive officer wrote in an email Friday.
Jurors heard 12 weeks of testimony — 11 of them being the prosecution’s case and one of them being the defense’s. The two juries are deliberating separately and will come to their own verdicts.
There is no limit as to how long jurors can deliberate verdicts.
Data analyzing average deliberation times is not kept, but factors such as the complexity of the case, race and gender of jurors, and type of offense can affect the length of time jurors take to reach a verdict.
Jurors who heard the trial against three Oakland police officers who allegedly assaulted and falsely arrested residents in the city’s poorest neighborhoods took 55 days of deliberation to acquit the officers of eight charges and were deadlocked on the 27 other counts in 2003, according to SF Gate.
Deliberations in the Smart case are scheduled to take place at the same time as the rest of the trial: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Both verdicts will be read back-to-back on the same day within an hour of the second jury coming to a verdict.
Once the verdict is read, jurors will be able to view media about the case, talk about it with friends and family and make public statements.
To stay up on the latest details in the case and get notified of a verdict, sign up for our news alerts by clicking on the three lines in the upper left of the sanluisobispo.com homepage, clicking on “Stay connected” and selecting “Newsletters” and then checking the box for “News alerts.”
This story was originally published October 12, 2022 at 9:01 AM.
