Thread by @YOBPodcast

Just barely snagged the last media seat in the courtroom this morning. Shout out to @DatelineNBC for making sure I got in 🤙🏼💜

Started the day with an opening statement from Ruben Flores’ defense attorney Harold Mesick.

“This case is tragic. And it’s tragic for everyone. Kristin Smart is missing. And we don’t know what happened. It’s unimaginable to me as a father.”

Mesick says Ruben Flores has been hounded, assaulted, and “chased out of restaurants”.

“26 years of hell.”

He says that after years of investigation, “the result is: we still don’t know what happened.”

Mesick says the State will call hundreds of witnesses.

“I want you to write down in your notebook if they offer you any proof of what happened. At the end, if you have an empty notebook, I ask you to return a not guilty verdict.”

Mesick says the State will “attempt to flip-flop the evidence and use it against my client. Be on the lookout for tactics the DA uses when they don’t have a case.”

“There’s no evidence even of a crime.”

Mesick says the DA’s theory “requires several leaps of logic” to believe.

“They parted ways. That’s the truth. That’s the simple answer.”

Mesick says the DA is claiming that Ruben chose “the most inaccessible spot” on his property to bury a body, and says: “There’s no evidence that they buried a body there.”

He suggests decomposition found in the soil under Ruben’s deck could have been from avocado tree roots.

Mesick says 9 gallons of fluid would be left over after a body decomposes, but “there’s no evidence of it. None.”

Mesick adds that the DAs timeline of when the body was dug up and moved was “after the podcast came out” while the Flores “family was being surveilled 24/7”.

In reference to a neighbor of Ruben’s, who testified at the prelim that she saw a trailer being backed up alongside Ruben Flores’ deck in February 2020, Mesick says: “You’ll hear from the neighbor. This is like a hobby of hers.”

Mesick says the trailer, which belonged to Susan Flores’ [boy]friend Mike McConville, was only moved to Ruben’s property because it was being vandalized where it was parked.

“The Facebook posse was all over him.”

Mesick says that it’s ludicrous to believe that the Flores family would move a body while they were “under surveillance 24/7”.

He adds, without any prior context for the jury: “Mr. Lambert’s tentacles reach far and wide.”

Mesick says “These witnesses aren’t coming here to tell you the truth. They’re coming here to make sure someone is convicted.”

He says the “whole case is circumstantial evidence”, and says Ruben Flores “has never done anything wrong in his life”.

Mesick concludes: “Don’t be fooled. Be skeptical.”

“At the end [of the trial], Kristin Smart will still be missing, and we’re not going to know what happened.”

Mesick rested at 9:52am, and after a break, both juries were brought into the courtroom together for the first time.

The People called their first witness, Denise Smart, at 10:32am.

Deputy DA Christopher Peuvrelle establishes that Denise has been married to her husband Stan for 50 years, and they have three children together: Kristin (would be 45), Matt (42), and Lindsey (40).

Denise says that Kristin got a job a as a camp counselor in Hawaii over the summer before she attended Cal Poly. “She called it her trifecta job — she got to work with kids, she got to be a lifeguard, and she got to be on the ocean.”

Denise says that once Kristin moved to San Luis Obispo, she would call home weekly on Sundays to talk to her family.

She says the last time she saw Kristin in person was during a family visit to SLO over Easter break of 1996. She says they parted on good terms.

Denise describes Kristin as her siblings’ biggest cheerleader, attending all of their swim competitions.

“She was always telling them they would go to the Olympics someday. When they both eventually got to the Olympic trials, Kristin wasn’t there.”

Peuvrelle publishes a letter that Denise wrote to Kristin on May 5, 1996. Denise describes it as a “Buckle Up, Buttercup” letter, and says she was pushing Kristin to take actions to correct the problems she was having at Cal Poly, instead of complaining about them.

Denise says Kristin was particularly stressed about a biology test she turned in that her professor misplaced. Denise encouraged her to talk to the professor during office hours. Denise learned after Kristin went missing that the professor had located the test.

Peuvrelle asks Denise what steps she took after learning that Kristin was missing. Denise says she called a resident advisor at Muir Hall who said he couldn’t answer any questions because of privacy issues.

She says she called the Cal Poly President’s office, and was directed to call the resident advisor. She says she called SLOPD, who told her they had no jurisdiction on campus. She says she then called SLO Sheriff’s Office, who told her the same thing.

Denise says she then called the FBI, and an agent called Cal Poly Police Department. The agent called her back to report that Cal Poly Police said they “did not need help”.

Denise says the @PollyKlaas Foundation offered to send a team to the campus to help search for Kristin, but Cal Poly Police were unreceptive and “no one was assuming any responsibility.”

“It felt like the life of my daughter was of no value to anyone except our family.”

Defense Attorney Robert Sanger cross-examines Denise Smart: “Not everything was rosy before Kristin went to San Luis Obispo, was it?”

He asks if Kristin “went off without permission to any place” when she was working in Hawaii that summer. Denise says she wasn’t there with her.

Sanger asks Denise if Kristin “went missing” in Hawaii or “went off to another island to meet up with some people”.

Peuvrelle objects on hearsay, relevance, and 402 grounds. Judge O’Keefe sustains the objection.

Sanger asks for clarification on which grounds the judge is granting the objection.

Judge O’Keefe: “All of them.”

Sanger asks Denise if her attorney, James Murphy Jr., sued the Flores family for money. Denise says the point of the civil suit was to compel information about Kristin’s location. Sanger asks if the suit was monetary in nature.

“The goal was to get information.”

Sanger asks Denise about Dennis Mahon, who volunteered to help the Smart family look for their daughter. He suggests that Mahon’s tactics were “fairly aggressive” in nature.

“That’s a good assessment, correct.”

Sanger asks Denise if she is aware of Chris Lambert, a podcaster. Denise says she is. Sanger asks if Chris Lambert had “any connection with Kristin Smart, personally”. Denise says no.

Sanger goes line by line through Denise’s May 5th letter to Kristin, asking her to elaborate on Kristin’s difficulties. Denise says the letter was only “a moment in time” and she doesn’t recall the specifics.

“I didn’t expect to be talking about this letter 26 years later.”

Sanger asks several questions about whether Denise or her husband ever referred to Kristin as “a piano wire being stretched”.

“Did you ever call her a piano wire?”

Denise is confused by the meaning, and Sanger is confused about who the quote came from.

Sanger asks Denise if Kristin weighed closer to 160 lbs when she went missing, rather than the 145 lbs listed on her missing posters. Denise says she doesn’t know what she weighed.

Ruben’s defense attorney Harold Mesick asks Denise if Kristin wanted to leave Cal Poly. Denise says Kristin was unhappy at the school, but working through it.

“In our family we have always said: what you start, you finish.”

Mesick asks Denise if she denies writing the May 5th letter. Denise says she wrote it.

Mesick: “It’s a good letter. Excellent penmanship. Only a few spelling errors. That’s okay.”

One juror audibly gasped, and several spectators looked at each other uncomfortably.

Harold Mesick: “This letter is not really that important, is it?”

Denise Smart: “Well, it seems to be today.”

Harold Mesick: “Well, we’re trying to get the truth from you. It’s like pulling teeth.”

Mesick asks Denise why all of the photos of Kristin that circulated in the media showed her with blonde hair when she had dyed her hair brown.

“That was her natural color, and we didn’t have any photos of her with her hair dyed. She had been trying to wash it out.”

On a second round of cross-exam, Sanger asks Denise about a medical report regarding Kristin’s Ritalin prescription.

Peuvrelle: “I object to this entire line of questioning. Relevance.”

Judge O’Keefe sustains the objection.

Sanger says he needs to be heard on this, and Judge O’Keefe asks for a sidebar. They return two minutes later.

Sanger: “Based on that ruling, I have no further questions.”

Denise Smart was excused at 2:30pm, and Matt Smart was called to the stand.

Kristin’s brother Matt, 16 when she went missing, is 42 years old today.

Peuvrelle asks Matt how close the Smart family was in 1996.

“It’s difficult to put into words. Your classic family.”

Peuvrelle asks Matt if Kristin was present at his sporting events growing up.

“In every way possible. She was always there to cheer you on. It was sisterly love.”

Matt recalls a family pet iguana named Iggy, who Kristin was very fond of.

Matt describes the Smart home as a happy family home, even after the dynamic shifted when Kristin left for Cal Poly.

“We found ways to cheer each other on from afar.”

Peuvrelle publishes a note Kristin wrote to Matt on a napkin, when they were staying in a hotel on Christmas vacation.

“Matt, someday I will give you $100,000. You’ll have to remind me though.”

Matt says the note was a bribe to get him to shut up in the small hotel room.

Matt says his family went on countless searches for Kristin, and two years ago, he joined a sheriff’s search and rescue team “to give back to the types of people who helped to look for my sister.”

On cross-examination, defense Attorney Robert Sanger asks Matt if he was very close to his sister, “did you go to Hawaii and visit her in the summer of 1995”?

Matt says he was 15 years old.

Sanger asks if they exchanged letters, and Matt says they sent postcards to each other.

Sanger asks Matt if he knows where Kristin was living prior to moving into Muir Hall in 1996. Matt asks Sanger several times to restate the question, which grows tense, and prompts a quiet laugh from the courtroom.

Sanger asks the judge to admonish the audience for their reactions. Judge O’Keefe instead asks to speak to Sanger in the hallway and asks the jurors and audience to take a 20-minute break.

Sanger asks Matt the last time Kristin came home to see Iggy the iguana. Matt says he would presume it was during a holiday break.

“I don’t specifically recall the last time she came home to visit the iguana, Iggy.”

Defense Attorney Harold Mesick asks Matt if the Smart family used “dowsers” to search for Kristin. Matt says he recalls meeting one person who attempted dowsing.

“When you need info, you’re willing to take whatever help you can get.”

Mesick asks Matt if the Smart family “loved each other fiercely”.

“Beyond beyond beyond, yes.”

Mesick asks Matt if he has any knowledge of what happened to his sister.

“No direct knowledge. Only that I haven’t seen or heard from her since 1996.”

Stan Smart was the last witness called today. On the stand, he says he has been married to Denise for 50 years.

“She’s somewhere here in the audience. There she is. She waved. I’m waving back.”

Stan was 51 when Kristin went missing. He is 77 today.

Stan recalls that Kristin came to live with him in Napa, where he had been hired as the principal of Vintage High School during her junior year. He says when she wasn’t in class, they spent every minute together. “Maybe more than she wanted.”

Peuvrelle asks how Kristin got around SLO without a driver’s license. Stan says she rode a bicycle.

“I had to come and collect the bicycle after she disappeared.”

Stan says he spent a great deal of time in SLO County searching for Kristin over the summer of 1996.

“I spent about 3 months down there looking for my daughter’s remains. Crawled through culverts. Walked along the highway. Looked many many places. I could’ve been a tour guide.”

Stan estimates that he spoke to “about a thousand” people during his search for Kristin, and that thousands more helped to search over that summer.

Peuvrelle: “Did you ever see the defendants, Paul and Ruben Flores, out looking for your daughter?”

Stan: “No.”

Peuvrelle asks Stan about the first time he visited Ruben Flores’ home in the summer of 1996.

“He came out when I drove by and I told him who I was and that I’d like to talk. He told me I better leave or someone might get shot.”

During cross-exam, Sanger asks Stan why Kristin moved to Napa with him when his other two kids stayed in Stockton. Stan says Kristin had asked to go “and I believed it was a good opportunity to spend time with her”.

Sanger asks Stan if Kristin weighed 160 lbs. in the spring of 1996.

“I don’t know. I don’t keep track of my children by their weight.”

Sanger asks Stan if he congratulated Cal Poly Police when he was in SLO for “doing a good job” searching for Kristin.

“I don’t believe so. I may have then, but I don’t feel that way anymore.”

Sanger asks Stan if he was aware when he visited Ruben’s home that it was “well-distributed by the media that Paul Flores was the focus of the investigation”.

Stan says, “I was just aware he was the parent of the youngster my daughter walked home with.”

Stan says he learned about Paul Flores after cadaver dogs alerted to his dorm room during a search.

Sanger asks if Stan was there for the dog search.

“I was there at Cal Poly, but not where the dogs were working.”

Sanger asks Stan why he was at Cal Poly during the cadaver dog search.

“You’ll recall I was on the campus searching the surrounding areas for my daughter’s body that whole summer.”

Sanger asks Stan if he called before he showed up to Ruben Flores’ house. Stan says he did not. Sanger asks Stan how tall he is.

“I’m 6’5”. Though I’m probably 6’1” now.”

Sanger asks if Stan was in good physical shape in 1996.

“I think so. I’m still here.”

Sanger wraps up his questioning at 4:27pm, but plans to resume his cross-examination of Stan Smart at 8:30am tomorrow.

I apologize for the delay in posting this evening. I lost power at the place I was staying and had to relocate for the night. Thanks for your patience. More tomorrow.