Court rejects sentence reduction for Pamela Smart, serving life in prison for plotting with teen lover to have her husband killed
New Hampshire's highest court on Wednesday turned away the latest attempt to get a sentence reduction for Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for plotting with her teenage lover to have her husband killed in 1990.
Smart, 55, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began an affair with a 15-year-old student who later shot and killed her husband, Gregory Smart. She was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, as well as other crimes, and sentenced to life without parole, although she denied knowledge of the plot. Smart said she would never admit to planning the murder during an interview with CBS Boston while in prison in 2019.
Having exhausted her judicial appeal options, Smart returned for a third time to an elected state council, seeking a sentence reduction hearing last year. The five-member Executive Council, which approves state contracts and appointees to the courts and state agencies, rejected her latest request in less than three minutes, prompting another appeal to state Supreme Court.
The justices dismissed the petition Wednesday, saying it would violate the separation of powers to order the council to reconsider a "political" question.
"This ruling by the New Hampshire Supreme Court is a continuing disappointment that devastates our hopes for Pamela Smart finally receiving reasonable and fair process in the State of New Hampshire," Smart's spokeswoman, Eleanor Pam, said in an email.
She added that Smart "has never been given the opportunity to be heard or allowed to make her case directly. Pamela Smart is fully rehabilitated and is no danger to society."
The state attorney general's office has opposed commutation for Smart, saying she has never accepted full responsibility for the crimes.
Smart, who has earned two master's degrees behind bars, tutored fellow inmates, been ordained as a minister and is part of an inmate liaison committee, said in her latest petition that she is remorseful and has been rehabilitated. She apologized to Gregory Smart's family, though relatives said she has failed to take full responsibility.
Smart's longtime attorney, Mark Sisti, argued that the elected council "brushed aside" her chance at freedom, spending no time discussing her voluminous petition — which included many letters of support from inmates, supervisors and others — before rejecting her request.
"We will not stop our attempts to free Pam Smart," Sisti said in a statement. Smart can refile a petition with the council every two years.
As governor, Chris Sununu brings forth matters for the council to consider, and did put the commutation request on the agenda, argued Laura Lombardi, senior assistant attorney general. She said there is no requirement for the governor and council to create rules regarding the process.
The 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. Joyce Maynard wrote "To Die For" in 1992, drawing from the Smart case. That inspired a 1995 film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.
Four other men, who were teenagers at the time of the killing, served shorter sentences than Smart after cooperating with prosecutors and have been released from prison. William Flynn, who shot Gregg Smart in the head when he was 16 years old, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and served his sentence in Maine before his release in 2015, after 25 years. Patrick "Pete" Randall, who held a knife to Gregg Smart's throat when Flynn shot him, was released on parole in New Hampshire around the same time. Two other men involved in the killing were released from prison earlier.
Flynn testified during Smart's 1991 trial that she threatened to break up with him if he did not kill her husband. He was granted parole on his first attempt, then 41 years old.
In February, several of Smart's supporters traveled to New Hampshire to hear the court discuss the case, wearing pink T-shirts with the words "Enough is Enough."
Kelly Harnett, 41, who designed the T-shirts, did time with Smart at the maximum security Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. She said Smart helped her through legal and personal setbacks, and deserves a hearing.
Vanessa Santiago also met Smart in 2003 as a fellow inmate, working with her as a teacher's aide and participating with her in an arts rehabilitation program. They stayed in touch after Santiago's release from Bedford in 2020, and she too supports her petition.
"Pamela is like an icon in a sense, meaning, she has life with no parole, and when things are tough, you remember Pamela," Santiago said.
