People vs. Flores: Week 6

You're listening to a special bonus series of the Your Own Backyard podcast, titled People vs. Flores, a weekly recap of the murder trial of Paul and Ruben Flores. Since filming and audio recording aren't currently allowed inside the courtroom, these episodes will recount handwritten notes taken by host Chris Lambert, breaking from our typical documentary format.

in an effort to get updates out as regularly and succinctly as possible. These recaps will likely contain subject matter that may be graphic and disturbing to some listeners. Listener discretion is advised. you

Week 6 started on Wednesday, August 24th, after two previously scheduled dark days. Just after 9am, Deputy DA Christopher Pavrell called Rhonda Doe to the stand. Rhonda testified that on January 12, 2008, she was hanging out with three of her friends and bandmates at the Thirsty Club Bar in Redondo Beach. Around closing time,

Rhonda said they were standing in the parking lot when a man she later learned to be Paul Flores rode up on his bicycle. Her friends invited Paul to hang out with them at her house since the bar was now closed. But Paul kept saying he needed to go back to his house first, to do something, and eventually asked Rhonda to walk with him. Rhonda said she agreed, and walked for 10-15 minutes from the Thirsty Club,

to Paul's house on 170th Street in Lawndale. Rhonda said that by the time they started walking, she had sobered up and no longer felt intoxicated. She testified that she was fully alert. by the time they reached Paul's steep driveway, which she recalled vividly. The house Paul was renting at that time was actually a back house, behind the main house, which sat in the front of the property.

From the front sidewalk to Paul's front door, the driveway measures about 110 feet and slopes downhill. Rhonda testified that once they were inside the house, Paul offered her a glass of water. which she accepted. Paul went into the kitchen where she couldn't see him and brought out a glass of water. While she drank the water, Rhonda said Paul was doing something in the kitchen for a while.

before he asked if she wanted a tour of his house. Rhonda testified, quote, The following account is graphic in detail. Rhonda testified that she lost consciousness, and when she came to, she was in Paul's bed, lying on her back, with Paul naked on top of her. Pavrel asked, was this with your consent? Rhonda answered, No, I don't even remember how we got to that point. She said she came in and out of consciousness a few times. One time, Paul was asking me what his name was.

I couldn't remember it, and he seemed pretty satisfied with that. She said she came to another time, to Paul putting a ball gag in her mouth, red with black straps. which he said was so they wouldn't wake up his roommate. At this point, she said Paul was having anal sex with her, which she never would have consented to. The next time she came to,

She remembers being curled up next to Paul's bed, crying. She said the next thing she remembers is Paul driving her home. Rhonda said that for the next two days, she was sore and bleeding. Pavel asked Rhonda if there was a clear line as to when she started going in and out of consciousness. Rhonda answered, when we were in his bedroom. Rhonda testified that she didn't report the rape.

because she was confused at the time and remembered so little of the night. Quote, I also knew that rape cases rarely get tried. There seemed to be no point. Last year, while scrolling through her newsfeed, Rhonda said she saw a photo of Paul Flores following his arrest and immediately recognized him. Quote, Rhonda said she experienced a panic attack.

and checked to see if Paul Flores had ever lived in the Lawndale area before finally deciding to contact law enforcement. In May of 2021, investigators showed Rhonda a photo lineup of six similar-looking men. and Rhonda identified number four as her rapist. Photo number four was a booking photo of Paul Flores. Pavel asked Rhonda her degree of certainty as she looked at Paul Flores sitting in front of her in the courtroom that he was the man who raped her. Rhonda answered, quote, I'm certain.

There's something in his eyes that is ingrained. That's something I did not forget. On cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Sanger quickly honed in on the fact that Rhonda... had previously lived in a house in Grover Beach for a period of time in 1996. That house, he pointed out, publishing a map on the courtroom projector, was 3.2 miles away from the village of Arroyo Grande, where a Kristen Smart billboard is located in front of the office of Smart Family attorney James Murphy.

Rhonda said she couldn't recall ever visiting the village or seeing the billboard. Rhonda testified that she attended Cal Poly in the fall of 1995, but dropped out in 1996. She said she was aware of Kristen Smart's disappearance at some point, but never heard about or saw on the news any discussion of a person of interest in the case, and was not familiar with Paul Flores.

Sanger asked Rhonda about the night she was raped, and whether she remembered Paul Flores' dogs barking to greet her at the gate. Rhonda said she didn't remember that, and Sanger responded, quote, You don't recall a lot about that night. Sanger asked Rhonda if she remembered the route that she and this other person walked to get to his house that night from the Thirsty Club. Rhonda said they crossed Inglewood Avenue and then crossed over train tracks.

The house, she recalled, was near the tracks. Google Maps shows the walk from the thirsty club to Paul Flores' former address in Lawndale is six-tenths of a mile. and crosses both Englewood Avenue and railroad tracks. Those tracks are about 900 feet from the house. Sanger then stated, Rhonda answered, I did, but at that time I was unable to recall it.

It's very confusing waking up with someone on top of you. I didn't know what was happening. Sanger then asked Rhonda if Paul had come to visit her after this incident and tried to call her on the phone. seeming to imply that Paul may have been interested in continuing a relationship beyond this encounter. The interesting thing about this line of questioning is is that it seems to abandon Sanger's prior suggestion that Rhonda was mistaken about her rapist's identity. Just minutes before this,

Sanger referred to Rhonda's rapist repeatedly as this person, or the other person involved. Here, Sanger seems to suggest that Paul Flores attempted to continue a relationship with Rhonda after that night. even though Paul may not be the person who raped her. A juror submitted a question for Rhonda. Do you recall any conversation on the walk to his house? Rhonda answered,

We briefly talked about sports. I'm not really into sports. I told them I was going to a Lakers game that weekend. I remember thinking we didn't have much in common. The juror submitted another question. What was his demeanor during the walk? Rhonda answered, he was acting normal, being polite, nothing that stood out at all. Sanger asked Rhonda, quote, you said he came to the bar on a bicycle.

Did he ride his bike to the house? Rhonda said, quote, he tried to get me to get on it, but I told him to stop. Then he walked it the rest of the way. Sanger asked Rhonda what kind of bicycle it was. Ronda responded, quote, not a mountain bike or anything. I would call it like a BMX bike. At this, Paul Flores began to shake his head in the courtroom, for the first time during Ronda's testimony.

Rhonda was excused at 10.55 a.m., and Pavreau called DA investigator J.T. Camp to the stand. Camp testified that he visited Paul Flores' former home in Lawndale last year. and took photos of the long, steep driveway and the main house in front. When he showed those photos to Rhonda, she identified it as the home she was taken to, saying, quote,

On cross-exam, Sanger asked Camp, quote, She said that house was near the railroad tracks. She didn't say she crossed over the railroad tracks, did she? Camp looked confused. looking up at the map and back at Sanger. Quote, Sanger also asked Camp how he chose the five other subjects who were shown to Rhonda in the photo lineup. Camp said all five subjects were in a similar age range and around the same height and weight as Paul Flores.

Sanger asked, quote, who looked the most like Paul Flores in that lineup? Paul Flores? Camp looked like he was trying to solve a math problem in his head before answering, of course. Camp was also asked about various routes to get to Muir Hall, from the intersection of Grand and Perimeter, which he measured with a rolling tape last month. On cross-exam, Sanger asked, Did you measure how far it would have been?

For Kristen Smart to get to her room, look through the window to see a man in that room, and then walk to Felipe's room? Camp said no. Defense attorney Harold Misik had no questions for Rhonda or Investigator Camp. After a 20-minute break, Camp was excused, and Pavrel said he had no scheduled witnesses for the remainder of the day.

so the proceeding was adjourned two hours early. Judge O'Keefe informed the juries that the trial was still moving ahead of schedule. On Thursday morning, Deputy DA Christopher Perel

called Gail LaRocque to the stand at 10.46 a.m. LaRocque was a certified human remains detection dog handler from 1994 through 2001. Her boxer, Tori, was certified by CARTA, the California Rescue Dog Association, for wilderness searches, urban search and rescue, water searches, disaster searches, evidence searches,

and advanced human remains detection. Defense attorney Robert Sanger objected to more than one photo of Tory being shown to the jury, stating that it was cumulative and an undue consumption of court time. His objection was overruled. Pavrel published a photo of Tori wearing a type of vest called a shabrak, which LaRocque explained indicates to the dogs that they're working while wearing it.

LaRocque walked through the certification process for CARTA, which requires a dog to locate pieces of human tissue, bone, blood, or the clothing of a deceased person. which are hidden in places that are not immediately visible. During these certification tests, LaRocque explained that dogs are not allowed to make any false alerts. Quote, it's 100% or you fail.

Dogs and handlers were also retested on an annual basis and would lose their certification if they ever failed a test. LaRocque said Tory never failed a certification test. Carta handlers would receive human bones, teeth, blood, or tissue from a medical examiner's office, as well as clothing that had been worn by a person at the time that they died.

Trainers also used other animal remains, like roadkill or cremains, to teach their dogs what not to alert on. This assured that the dogs could differentiate between the scent of human decomposition and animal decomposition. LaRocque said that on some occasions, carta handlers were given pieces of sterile gauze that had been placed on the chests of deceased people while they were being driven to the morgue.

Dogs would alert to the scent of human remains on the gauze from only the prolonged contact. Tori wore a brinsel when she was searching for human remains, a cigar-shaped piece of leather attached to her collar ring. Tori would alert that she had located her target scent by biting the Bringsle and returning to LaRocque with it still in her mouth. On June 29, 1996,

LaRocque was dispatched to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. At 1.30pm, she was asked to bring Tori to Santa Lucia Hall. She was not told that Wayne Barron's and Adela Morris' three dogs had already alerted inside. Quote, was that I was looking for cadaver scent. LaRocque said that by the time she arrived at Santa Lucia Hall, Tori was showing signs of heat exhaustion. LaRocque took Tori into a shower to wet her down until she stopped panting.

They then returned to the front entrance of the building, where Tori Shabrak and Bringsl were put on her. LaRocque described this process as proofing. After dressing Tori in her Shabrak and Bringsl, LaRocque would give her the command to let her know she was on a human remains search. Tori's command for this was search bones. Tori would bite her bringsel and sit to indicate that she knew that she was working.

and that she was searching specifically for human remains sent. After this proofing, Tori was let off her leash and again given the command, search bones. LaRocque explained, quote, She ran down the first floor hallway, and she did what I call a fish hook. Her head went up, she spun around and ran to one of the doors, scratched at it, then bit her brinsel and brought it to me.

That meant she had detected the scent of human remains. I was still at the far end of the hall. I asked the detectives to please open that door. They opened it, and I re-gave her the command, search bones. She went into the room, her head went up, and she smelled the air. LaRocque said the mattress on the left side of the room was not on the bed frame.

which we know from previous testimony had been removed by San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Deputy Rick Neufeld. So Tori first showed interest in the mattress on the right side of the room. After running her nose around the bed on the right, Tori bit her brinsel and brought it to LaRocque. LaRocque explained that because she is trained to read her dog's body language, she could see that Tori had not located a primary scent source.

so she instructed her to go on, and Tori returned to the room, circling the perimeter and checking the closets. LaRocque testified, when she got to the left far corner, she started to whine. This indicated to me that she had her scent and was very excited. She smelled the carpet. She scratched at the carpet. Then she brought me her bringsel.

LaRocque said there was also a small gray trash can in the back left corner of the room, which Tori picked up and brought directly to her. Because Tori had been given the command to find human remains, LaRocque said her alerts indicated that she had located the specific scent of human remains on that trash can. LaRocque said she asked the detectives watching,

to take the trash can out of the room so Tory could continue to work. The bed frame on the left, where the mattress had been removed, continued to be of interest to Tory. LaRocque said, She ran her nose around it over and over, very frustrated. My opinion was that there was a strong scent cloud of human remains around that bed. LaRocque said she believes the primary source of human remains scent...

was the bed frame, as well as the wastebasket, and the back left corner of the room. LaRocque said after Tory finished searching the room, detectives placed three identical wastebaskets spaced out in the hallway. Tori smelled each one, and then picked up the one on the right. Tori then bit her brinsel and brought it back to LaRocque, indicating another full alert. Detectives later told LaRocque,

that the can on the right was the one Tori had previously alerted to in room 128. LaRocque said that because Tori had alerted on the same garbage can twice, her interpretation was that there was, quote, deceased human sin. on that garbage can. LaRocque said she asked Tori to search the Santa Lucia hallway again, and Tori stood on her hind legs, smelling the door directly across the hallway from room 128, but did not alert.

She described this behavior as, quote, searching for the boundaries of that scent bubble. Sanger objected that there was no such thing as a scent bubble, but Judge O'Keefe overruled him.

As with the previous dog handlers, Sanger's cross-examination focused on LaRocque's work as a volunteer, as well as the other members of CARTA and their working relationship to each other. which Sanger previously referred to as their little club. Sanger asked, quote, when your dog is searching, you're looking for actual evidence, right? LaRocque answered,

I'm looking for my dog to indicate that she smells human remains. Sanger asked LaRocque if she was aware that dogs can have false positives. LaRocque answered, quote, Sanger responded, A false positive would be a dog alerting to human remains where there are no human remains. Does that make sense? LaRocque answered, No. Sanger asked LaRocque if her dog was friends with Adela Morris' dogs. Pavrel responded, quote, Objection! Dogs have friends? The jurors laughed, as did the judge.

prompting Sanger to rephrase the question. They got along, yes? Sanger then asked, you don't know the chemical compounds that dogs are alerting to, do you? LaRocque said no, and after a brief pause added, Nor do I know the chemical compounds that make up a chocolate cake, but I know one when I see one. Several jurors laughed again, but this time Sanger shouted back, Did you see a chocolate cake, ma'am? Do you think this is funny?

This is a murder trial. Defense attorney Harold Misik cross-examined LaRocque, asking, Would you agree that a dog is only as good as his handler? LaRocque answered, No, I would not agree. explaining that some dogs have a knack for detection work, while others are easily distracted and difficult to train. Misik asked if handlers always use a tangible item when training the dogs.

LaRocque said trainers would often bury an item and then remove it entirely before letting the dog search. Dogs would alert on the spot where the item had been, even though it was no longer there. Misik asked if Tori might have been interested in other smells in the trash can. LaRocque responded, Interested? Yes. Misik asked, Enough to alert and bring it to you? LaRocque answered,

only if it contained the scent of human remains. Misik asked if Tori ever alerted on something that wasn't there. LaRocque said she didn't recall Tori ever alerting falsely. Misik asked, quote, You believe your dog is infallible? LaRocque answered, Not infallible. Just honest. Regarding the search of Paul's room, Misik asked, You said your dog showed frustration?

Sanger objected that there was no basis for the question, and Misik withdrew it, asking instead, How long do you believe volatile organic compounds remain in the atmosphere? Sanger objected again that there was no foundation, and Judge O'Keefe sustained. Misik asked, quote, Could your dog differentiate between human blood and menstrual blood? LaRocque said she never observed Tori to alert on menstrual blood. After a brief sidebar, LaRocque was excused at 4pm.

To help me better understand the testimony of the three dog handlers we've heard from so far, I reached out to a dog trainer who specializes in scent work, who's been following the trial updates, to ask about how a dog's nose works. and what handlers are looking for when their dogs are searching for a scent. My name is Becky Pasica. I'm a certified dog trainer and I'm a certified nose reconstructor. So my expertise is in...

scent work and scent detection since 2015. So first of all, I do want to caveat, I'm not a cadaver dog handler. My expertise is in scent detection, but I have hundreds and hundreds of hours of observing dog behavior and nose work searches.

So I think it will be helpful to start with some fun facts about the dog's nose, because then what the dogs are doing in the searches will make a lot more sense. Dogs have between 100 million on the very low end and 300 million scent receptors in their nasal cavity. We have around 6 million. So the dog's brain, the part that's allocated to scenting and scent detection is 40 times more than ours. So just to put in perspective.

You know, the elevator analogy of perfume, it's not wrong if you don't know how capable a dog's nose is because you're judging it based on our nose and we can't smell it, but a dog absolutely can. These are cadaver dogs specifically, but they're scent dogs that can find dead bodies 30 feet underwater. So the dog's nose is insanely capable.

The likelihood that three dogs separately doing blind searches all false alerted on the exact same things in the exact same corner of the room, I think I'm not a statistics expert, but statistically is. probably pretty low so the fish hook that they describe basically every odor particle has one of the Handlers called it a scent bubble, and scent cone, I think, is more common now, but it's the same concept. Basically, it's just the odor, how it's emanating out.

Kind of a good visual, sort of like the warmer, colder game. So what was happening is the dogs are running down the hallway. There's no odor. There's no odor. And then at that door, they hit odor. But as the dog is running, they run past it, say, shoot, that was what I was looking for.

And also dogs can scent directionally left and right. And so they would be running and whatever, it's the left side of the room or something. Do that fish hook, that U-turn. That means they hit the edge of odor. So we call that a change of behavior. It's really clear that. They are changing their path and then going to whichever direction they're finding the source of odor. The handler that had the boxer that spoke last week, she mentioned even that.

Then her dog went and checked the room across the hall, you know, gave it a quick snip and then came back to where they were catching odor. So that's sort of one edge of the scent bubble and then went back to where they're finding the greatest concentration. For a cadaver, for a body, there's skin cells that a body, we are shedding skin cells every moment, hair particles. So it's absolutely valid that it didn't lead to.

any physical particle that we could see but i don't know nobody did you know a really fine sweep of any skin cells you know given how strong a dog's nose is there's absolutely stuff left behind that if people weren't looking for that then it would have been easily missed you know even it could have been a hair on the floor that was underneath the edge of the bed or something like that those are the things that the dogs could be alerting on that

visually are you know somebody missed and then also the the gas a dead body puts off again the dog's nose is just so much stronger than ours so all of that lingers even if we're not still there and then And Adela had mentioned that they train the dogs for if it's been cleaned, you know, so if the room was cleaned, then how well. And again, you know, where there's little particles, skin cells and stuff like that that were left at the edge.

That's probably what the dogs were alerting to based on what it sounds like the areas of the room that they consistently alerted to. So I think one thing that's important to think about is the dogs didn't. They don't have any expectation of going in there and finding an alert. They would have done searches where they were asked to search and didn't come up with anything.

The dogs, they're just going to do the searching. If they find odor, then they're going to tell their handler about it. And then if not, then they're going to leave. And then their handlers would set up a recovery search or something like that for them.

But again, the odor is not vaporized into the air. And I mean, if you're just judging based on the human nose, I can see how people think that. But there was a study done in Australia where... blood was put on a q-tip and was washed five times and then it was presented to the cadaver dogs and they still alerted on it that just gives a little bit of a perspective of like odor can

have been cleaned it can be sitting out for ages sometimes you know in training we'll age a hide we'll leave it outside in the elements you know it rains or it's baking in the sun we absolutely can't smell it and then absolutely the dog can still find it It's teamwork. You're kind of there, but it's totally the dog is in charge. They're the one smelling. They're honest. They have no expectation. You know, they're not.

trying to fool you if you've done your training well, which to get certified at that level. The standard of training is so high. And I think all of the handlers have done such a good job standing by their training and having all the things, you know, Adela talked about all the things that they've trained the dogs against. They've put out blood in the environment.

and they put out semen and whatever out you know if it's a cadaver dog they would have live you know skin cells or whatever so that the dogs learn I'm only alerting for the cadaver smell not all these other things that are present in the environment which was brought up in the case all of the dogs had really clear alerts and it's something that

When you don't know much about it, it looks like nothing much is happening or all of the questions that the defense have asked are pretty normal questions until you learn more and then you have understanding of how capable the dogs are. working detection dogs are trained to such a high level because there is going to be that criticism so they have to be they have to have really strict training to fall back on to say we we proof the dog about you know xyz

They've already been exposed to this. This is their alert every single time. It's very clear. So there are also people watching that don't know if they do a sit or a down. whatever you know they're really clear change of behavior so people that don't know what they're looking at can see and tell that the dog did something different

First of all, once you're at that level where you have a certified cadaver dog, you know all the nuances of your dog. I mean, even pet dog owners, if your dog is standing by the back door giving you a hard stare, you can infer that they have. They want to go outside versus they're staring at a squirrel outside or, you know, begging at the table or something. So for a working dog, first of all, they're looking at the whole picture. So they see the change of behavior. They see the.

intention the dog's trying to get somewhere as the dog is really working it's very fluid because they're kind of narrowing it down again sort of like that warmer colder game so the handler would be observing all of those little changes of the dog The head turn, oh, there, they caught a little edge of it. And then either a hard sniff on some spot or really kind of narrowing it down. The more you watch it, even anybody would start to see, oh, there it is.

there's kind of the behavior change you're looking for. But yeah, the alert is much more clear than, you know, if there was like tri-tip juice on the edge of the bed or something like that, they wouldn't give that. you know, running back, jumping on the handler or a sit or, you know, whatever their, that dog specific alert is. It's very, very different. And again, that would be something that is trained for. I think Adela mentioned it, that.

They put out meat, they put out steak, you know, all different kinds of things. And the dog doesn't give their clear, their alert saying, this is the thing I'm training for. I think people also forget that even in training. There's all kinds of smells in the environment at all times. So you have, we have no idea if we're setting out a training session where, you know, they do put out some cadaver odor. Maybe there was blood in the environment.

somebody walked past with a cut that you know they never knew so the dogs from the get-go are trained to ignore so many distractions and then just find the thing that they're asked to find even yesterday in class just with pet dogs i have all the treats out right next to the search area and the dogs ignore the treats and choose to go find the thing that we're asking them to find so dogs love to work it's so fulfilling for them

You know, they have this whole training history where they've been reinforced for only finding the thing. They've also been reinforced for not finding any odor. And that's OK, too. So, you know, there's no reason for me to think that they would.

suddenly alert on residual tri-tip smell. And to that point, if they don't think cadaver odor lingers in the environment for very long, but they think... tri-tip smell on his clothes lingers for a long time those are contradictory three separate dogs work totally independent of each other, all alert on the same things in the same areas is very clear that there was cadaver odor in that environment.

He brought up that they're friends or something, but each dog individually would have no way of knowing exactly where in the room the prior dog alerted to. you know, they would be able to smell that there was a dog there or where the dog moved around, but not knowing that exactly on the edge of the bed is where the border collie made the choice. And then the boxer made a different, you know, there's just, it's just so improbable. There's no way.

To learn more about nosework training and see some of the dogs in action, you can follow Becky on Instagram at dogtastictraining. After the testimony of Gail O'Rourke,

Deputy DA Christopher Perel called Angie to the stand. Angie dated Paul Flores from 2004 to 2006 and lived with him in Lawndale. At some point during that relationship, Angie said Paul took her to Arroyo Grande, where she met his mother Susan Flores, her boyfriend Mike McConville, and Paul's father Ruben Flores. During their visit to Ruben's home,

Angie said they walked through the house and out to the backyard through a sliding glass door. She described a slab of concrete and a wraparound porch or deck with white lattice underneath it. When she noticed a few avocado trees close to the deck, she attempted to approach one when she said she was quickly redirected away from that area by Ruben and Paul and told to come back around the side of the house to the front yard.

Angie said the mood quickly changed. She added that after this incident, she learned that Paul wasn't paying his own bills and that his parents had been paying them for him. Sanger objected, quote, Your Honor, I have a very specific motion. Judge O'Keefe asked for a sidebar. Pavrel then asked Angie to specify how the mood changed. After she was redirected away from the avocado tree, Angie answered, quote, They did not want me there. Pavrel handed Angie a photo of Ruben Flores' yard.

and asked her to indicate the area where she came out of the house, and the tree she was heading toward when she was redirected. Angie marked an avocado tree, which based on the preliminary hearing and pretrial testimony, sits directly in front of the portion of the deck where investigators found what they believe to be a human burial site in 2021. Angie was still on the stand at the end of Thursday.

and returned Friday morning. Deputy DA Christopher Peverell reopened his direct examination, asking, what room was behind the sliding doors you came out? Angie said she believed it was a dining room. Pavrel asked Angie if she saw any dogs on the property. Angie said there were five dogs being kept under the deck. Pavrel asked if they were barking. Angie said she believes they were.

On cross-exam, defense attorney Robert Sanger asked if the sliding glass door Angie circled on a photo could have been a room rented out to a tenant and not a dining room. Angie answered, quote, I just know that we came out a sliding glass door. Defense attorney Harold Misik asked, Are you aware that the property had been an avocado grove? Angie said she was not aware.

Misik asked Angie if she was dressed nice for a dinner party. Angie answered, quote, no, just normal. Misik asked if she could have been redirected. because Ruben and Paul were afraid she would step in dog poop. Angie said she didn't know, but she didn't think that was their concern. Misik asked, quote,

Did they say, let's go, we gotta go to the dinner party? Angie said she couldn't remember what they were saying. They just wanted her to leave the area and go back to the front of the house. I'll note here, that Angie never mentioned anything in her testimony about having plans to go to a dinner party. That idea was introduced by Misik. During the preliminary hearing,

He asked Angie if she might have been wearing high heels that day, and that Reuben and Paul could have redirected her, so she wouldn't trip in the grass or get them dirty. Angie said she wasn't wearing high heels. On redirect, Pavrel asked, after this, were you ever invited back to the home of Ruben Flores? Angie said she wasn't. Pavrel asked what Ruben Flores' demeanor was following this incident.

Angie answered, quote, he was rude. It didn't seem like he liked me. Angie was excused at 9.10am. Judge O'Keefe informed the jurors that the attorneys needed to prepare for the next witness. so the court would be taking a 90-minute recess. Quote, the attorneys will all be working very hard to make this seamless. When we returned at 10.30am, we were told that the attorneys had been unable to resolve the issue.

so court was going to be dismissed for the rest of the day. Judge O'Keefe explained, quote, This is not going to delay anything. We are making good time. Sometimes things happen that are outside of our control. No further details were given. The trial is scheduled to resume on Monday, August 29th at 8.30am. You've been listening to People vs. Flores, a special bonus series at the Your Own Backyard podcast.

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