The documents, which were published online and confirmed by the court as authentic, were “accidentally obtained” and “not supposed to be made public,” Nikki Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the San Luis Obispo High Court, told CNN.
Both men pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of first-degree murder. They have been held in jail since their arrest on April 13.
A sheriff’s detective in the case said investigators “are in possession of biological evidence that leads them to believe the victim was buried under the accused’s deck at one point.”
Prosecutors in the document also accuse Paul Flores of being a “serial rapist”, an accusation first made public.
“Dozens of women have recounted the sexual assaults and predatory behavior of Paul Flores documenting his twenty-five years as a serial rapist,” Deputy District Attorney Christopher Peuvrelle wrote in the report.
Los Angeles police officers confirmed last week that Paul Flores was being investigated for sexual assault in Los Angeles County, and police have filed two cases with the LA County District Attorney’s Office.
Peuvrelle asked the court to detain Paul Flores and warned that if he were released, he would put a serial rapist back on the streets and release him to victimize additional women. ‘
A judge ruled Monday that Paul Flores should be held without bail.
Ruben Flores was initially detained on $ 250,000 bail in the San Luis Obispo County Jail. His lawyer Harold Mesick requested bail reduction, arguing that the 80-year-old accused posed no flight risk, and that his health was poor because he had undergone triple bypass heart surgery and was suffering from colitis and diabetes.
However, Peuvrelle argued in his report that “the excavation under his deck … condemned evidence showed that a body had been buried at that place and then recently moved.”
The prosecutor noted that it was reasonable to believe that Ruben Flores knew where Smart’s remains were, and ventured that Flores, if released on bail, “would use his freedom to continue his efforts to oust Paul Flores. help stop the prosecution in this case and hide her remains. “
Smart’s family also opposed a reduction in bail, calling Ruben Flores a ‘coward’ and expressing fears that ‘his release on bail directly threatens the safety of our family’.
On Wednesday, Judge Craig Van Rooyen, High Court in San Luis Obispo, reduced the bail for Ruben Flores to $ 50,000 with conditions.
The judge ordered that if Ruben Flores was released, he should wear an electronic monitoring device, not leave San Luis Obispo County and hand over his passport 24 hours after returning home.
None of the attorneys involved in the case would comment, citing a gag order.
“There is a protection order prohibiting our office from discussing the matter in public,” Deputy DA Eric Dobroth of San Luis Obispo told CNN on Wednesday.
Robert Sanger, Paul Flores’ lawyer, did not comment, nor did Mesick, who had previously called the evidence in the case “so minimal that it shocks the conscience”.