Former FBI agent weighs in on the Kristin Smart murder trial verdict

SANTA MARIA, Calif.- Former FBI agent Dan Payne said that the Kristin Smart murder trial is the most difficult case he has seen.

Dan Payne worked as a special agent on a number of homicide cases.

“I've spent 31 years as a special agent with the FBI, and I worked a number of homicide cases during that period of time. And when I reflect back on those cases in this current case, I think that this is the most difficult case I have seen," he said.

Payne said cases like this are extremely difficult when a person’s body is never found.

“All the places that they looked at and all the places that examined all the leads that they followed, ran the ground on this try and trying to come up with some conclusive evidence and essentially this was the case that the verdict was rendered on circumstantial evidence, not physical evidence," he said.

Payne said that no two trials are the same.

"You've got 12 people up there with 12 different personalities and 12 different ideologies and trains of thought and backgrounds and all of that," he added.

He also says it's interesting that Ruben Flores was found not guilty.

“I thought it was interesting that the jury probably rejected most of the expert testimony on the gravesite and all of that feeling that Ruben wasn't an accessory to murder," he said.

Payne believes Paul Flores will appeal his guilty verdict.

“What they base the appeal on depends on a lot of factors. But I feel certain where you have a person that's looking at life without the possibility of parole there will be an appeal on it," he explained.