Flores’ attorney wants SLO County DA disqualified over purple neckties. That’s a red herring

Robert Sanger, the defense attorney representing the man accused of killing Kristin Smart, is getting awfully worked up over something pretty trivial: the purple neckties worn by the prosecution team.

Purple was Smart’s favorite color, and several spectators who’ve been attending the preliminary hearing for defendant Paul Flores have been wearing purple apparel. Both the attorney prosecuting the case and the lead detective have worn purple ties to court, though not every day.

Sanger claims the ties are a sign the prosecution has “sided” with the victim and her supporters, and he’s filed a motion to have the District Attorney’s Office kicked off the case.

As you might expect, that hasn’t gone over well in a community that’s been carefully following the Smart case, ever since she disappeared from the Cal Poly campus 25 years ago.

On social media, Sanger has been accused of grasping at straws, trafficking in “B.S.” and acting “desperate.”

Sanger’s move may seem extreme, but it’s not all that unusual for courtroom apparel to be scrutinized.

Some defense attorneys have filed appeals of guilty verdicts based, at least in part, on courtroom attire.

In a California case, for example, a defense lawyer argued that his client was denied a fair trial because spectators in the courtroom wore pins embossed with a photo of the victim, a murdered police officer.

That argument was shot down by a Court of Appeal.

“Defendant’s claim ... is an insult to the intelligence, integrity, and resolve of jurors. Here, there is no reason to believe that the jurors, when faced with the image of the alleged murder victim, would be unable or unwilling to base their verdict solely on the evidence presented during the trial,” the court held.

Nonetheless, judges have forbidden or placed limits on wearing pins and T-shirts with victims’ photos inside the courtroom, but those orders have been directed at spectators.

It’s less common for attorneys’ attire to be the issue, though there is a famous case of a prosecutor being challenged by the defense for wearing an American flag pin on the lapel of his suit jacket. In the end, a New York Supreme Court justice sided with the prosecutor.

To be clear, there absolutely must be decorum in the courtroom. These are serious proceedings — not sporting matches.

But we’re talking here about nondescript neckties, not purple suits.

Most people would interpret wearing a purple tie as a small act of kindness for a family that’s been through hell.

Besides, wearing purple is aimed at honoring the victim — not commenting on the guilt of the defendant.

Sanger, though, sees the purple ties as evidence of the prosecution’s “stunning lack of objectivity.”

“This is just what we’re not supposed to have ... (prosecutors) on a mission to convict somebody,” he said.

We might have more sympathy with Sanger if this were an actual trial in front of jury. Then he could raise the argument that this is an attempt to taint the jurors.

This a preliminary hearing, though, at the end of which the judge will decide whether there is enough evidence to proceed to trial.

The judge won’t be influenced by the color of the prosecutor’s necktie, or by the purple shirts and pinkish-purple face masks worn by some members of the courtroom audience.

But if it bothers Sanger so much, instead of grandstanding why not just ask the prosecution to stop wearing them, instead of going through the drama of filing a motion to get the DA’s office disqualified over something so small?

As for the allegation that the DA’s office is taking sides and trying to “convict somebody,” Sanger is wrong.

It’s absolutely the DA’s job to win a conviction — but not just against any random “somebody.”

The “somebody” here is Paul Flores, the lone suspect for 25 years.

It’s Sanger’s job to vigorously defend Flores, and it’s the prosecution’s role, at this stage in the proceeding, to establish there’s enough evidence to move forward.

At the end of the day, the evidence is what matters — not the color of a necktie.