Latest news with #PamelaSmart
The Independent
6 days ago
- General
- The Independent
New Hampshire governor rejects hearing for Pamela Smart, sentenced to life for husband's 1990 death
New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte rejected on Thursday the latest request for a sentence reduction hearing from Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for orchestrating the murder of her husband by her teenage student in 1990. Smart, 57, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old boy who later fatally shot her husband, Gregory Smart, in Derry. The shooter was freed in 2015 after serving a 25-year sentence. Though Smart denied knowledge of the plot, she was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and other crimes and sentenced to life without parole. It took until last year for Smart to take full responsibility for her husband's death. In a video released in June, she said she spent years deflecting blame 'almost as if it was a coping mechanism.' On Wednesday, Smart wrote to Ayotte and the governor's Executive Council asking for a hearing on commuting her sentence. But Ayotte, a Republican elected in November, said she has reviewed the case and decided it is not deserving of a hearing before the five-member panel. ' People who commit violent crimes must be held accountable to the law,' said Ayotte, a former state attorney general. 'I take very seriously the action of granting a pardon hearing and believe this process should only be used in exceptional circumstances.' In her letter, Smart said she has spent the last 35 years 'becoming a person who can and will be a contributing member of society.' Calling herself 'what rehabilitation looks like,' she noted that she has taken responsibility for her husband's death. 'I have apologized to Gregg's family and my own for the life taken and for my life denied to my parents and family for all these long years,' she wrote. Smart's trial was a media circus and one of America's first high-profile cases about a sexual affair between a school staff member and a student. The student, William Flynn, testified that Smart told him she needed her husband killed because she feared she would lose everything if they divorced. Flynn and three other teens cooperated with prosecutors and all have since been released. The case inspired Joyce Maynard's 1992 book 'To Die For' and the 1995 film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
New Hampshire governor rejects hearing for Pamela Smart, sentenced to life for husband's 1990 death
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte rejected on Thursday the latest request for a sentence reduction hearing from Pamela Smart , who is serving life in prison for orchestrating the murder of her husband by her teenage student in 1990. Smart, 57, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old boy who later fatally shot her husband, Gregory Smart, in Derry. The shooter was freed in 2015 after serving a 25-year sentence. Though Smart denied knowledge of the plot, she was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and other crimes and sentenced to life without parole.
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
New Hampshire governor rejects hearing for Pamela Smart, sentenced to life for husband's 1990 death
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte rejected on Thursday the latest request for a sentence reduction hearing from Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for orchestrating the murder of her husband by her teenage student in 1990. Smart, 57, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old boy who later fatally shot her husband, Gregory Smart, in Derry. The shooter was freed in 2015 after serving a 25-year sentence. Though Smart denied knowledge of the plot, she was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and other crimes and sentenced to life without parole. It took until last year for Smart to take full responsibility for her husband's death. In a video released in June, she said she spent years deflecting blame 'almost as if it was a coping mechanism.' On Wednesday, Smart wrote to Ayotte and the governor's Executive Council asking for a hearing on commuting her sentence. But Ayotte, a Republican elected in November, said she has reviewed the case and decided it is not deserving of a hearing before the five-member panel. 'People who commit violent crimes must be held accountable to the law,' said Ayotte, a former state attorney general. 'I take very seriously the action of granting a pardon hearing and believe this process should only be used in exceptional circumstances.' In her letter, Smart said she has spent the last 35 years 'becoming a person who can and will be a contributing member of society.' Calling herself 'what rehabilitation looks like,' she noted that she has taken responsibility for her husband's death. 'I have apologized to Gregg's family and my own for the life taken and for my life denied to my parents and family for all these long years,' she wrote. Smart's trial was a media circus and one of America's first high-profile cases about a sexual affair between a school staff member and a student. The student, William Flynn, testified that Smart told him she needed her husband killed because she feared she would lose everything if they divorced. Flynn and three other teens cooperated with prosecutors and all have since been released. The case inspired Joyce Maynard's 1992 book 'To Die For' and the 1995 film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Executive Council to hear Pam Smart's latest bid for clemency next week
The state's Executive Council will consider next week Pamela Smart's latest effort to commute her life sentence for orchestrating her husband's murder 35 years ago. Smart, 57, has spent more than half her life in prison since being convicted in 1991 as an accomplice to the murder of her husband, Gregg Smart. She was 22 in 1990 when she was accused of orchestrating her husband's murder with the help of a 15-year-old lover, William 'Billy' Flynn, and three of his teenage friends, who tried to make the fatal shooting in the Smarts' Derry home look like a botched robbery. The plot unraveled, and the ensuing trial attracted worldwide interest. Smart was sentenced to life without parole. The Executive Council has denied Smart's request for a commutation hearing three times, most recently in March 2022. A request before the state Supreme Court to order a hearing be held was denied in 2023, with the justices saying they had no legal jurisdiction to compel the state's executive branch to grant Smart's petition for a commutation hearing or any say in how that hearing must be conducted. The Executive Council is scheduled to meet on Wednesday at 10 a.m. at the State House in Concord. In a letter to Gov. Kelly Ayotte and members of the Executive Council, Smart says she is the longest-serving female inmate in the New York State prison system, having spent 35 years behind bars. 'I ask for your mercy and for your recognition that I am not the 22-year-old who found herself involved in a terrible crime,' Smart writes. 'I am a 57-year-old woman who has spent the past 35 years growing, understanding, seeking guidance from above and becoming a person who can and will be a contributing member of society for my remaining years. Pam Smart Pamela Smart testifies during her 1991 trial in the murder of her husband, Gregg. 'I am what rehabilitation looks like. I have taken responsibility for the tragic murder of my husband Gregg Smart. I have apologized to Gregg's family and my own for the life taken and for my life denied to my parents and family for all these long years.' Smart goes on to write she has helped 'hundreds' of fellow female inmate, from helping individuals and families impacted by AIDS to teaching young women how to rebuild their lives. Attorney Ron Kuby said Smart is 'destined to die' in a New York prison unless the Executive Council acts. 'All she is seeking is a fair hearing before the counsel, where she can present evidence of who she is now, rather than the person she was when she was twenty-two,' Kuby said in a statement. 'Everyone who knows Ms. Smart, and every expert who has examined her, unanimously agree that she has become an asset to society and poses the lowest possible risk of recidivism. Yet she is bound by an inflexible sentence that was imposed some 35 years ago. It is time for a re-examination.' Smart was found guilty of accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with a witness in connection with the shooting death of her husband, to whom she had been married for less than a year. Smart received a sentence of life without possibility of parole. She remains behind bars at the maximum-security women's prison in Bedford Hills, New York. Smart appealed her conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. She filed her first petition for commutation in 2004. Aside from Smart, everyone else convicted in the case has been paroled, thanks to deals for reduced sentencing in exchange for their testimony against Smart. pfeely@
