Convicted killer pleads not guilty to jailhouse attack on killer of California student Kristin Smart

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A man accused of a jailhouse attack on the convicted killer of California college student Kristin Smart has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder. Jason Budrow entered his plea Monday in Fresno County. Prosecutors say Budrow slashed Paul Flores in the neck last August at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga. Flores recovered. He is serving 25 years to life for killing Smart, who was 19 when she vanished in 1996 from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Prosecutors said Flores killed Smart during an attempted rape in his dorm room. Budrow is serving life sentences for strangling his girlfriend in 2010 and the 2021 strangling of a cellmate, serial killer Roger Reece Kibbe.