COALINGA —The man convicted of killing Kristin Smart, who disappeared from a California college campus over 25 years ago, was recently hospitalized after being attacked in state prison, as confirmed by his lawyer on Wednesday.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported that Paul Flores, a resident of San Pedro, was transferred from Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga to an external hospital due to being in serious condition.
The department has not officially confirmed the details of the attack on Flores, stating that an investigation is underway.
Although attorney Harold Mesick received an update from corrections officials regarding the attack on Flores, he did not possess any specific information.
Mesick expressed his hopes for Flores’ recovery, stating, “I just pray for his recovery.”
According to Mesick, Flores had recently been transferred from North Kern State Prison to the Central Valley prison on the previous week. North Kern is typically where prisoners are initially received and processed before being assigned to another facility.
Last March, Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Smart.
Smart, 19 years old at the time, vanished from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo during Memorial Day weekend in 1996.
Although her remains have never been discovered, she was legally declared dead in 2002.
Prosecutors argued that Flores, now 46, killed Smart while attempting to rape her on May 25, 1996, in his dorm room at the university. They were both first-year students, and Flores was the last person seen with Smart as he escorted her home from a party off-campus.
In 2021, Flores was arrested alongside his father, who was accused of assisting in the concealment of Smart’s body. Flores was convicted of first-degree murder in October of last year.
Ruben Flores, 81, the father, was acquitted by a separate jury of being an accessory after the fact.
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