My intent here is to be non-committal and unbiased. However, I don't have time to recall or research the entire case. My ex-wife, a defense lawyer, has used some of the prosecution's tactics against NH government and is quick to cite this case to show they are legal, I'll touch on that toward the end and in the postscript.
On May 1, 1990, Gregory Smart was shot and killed at his home in Derry, New Hampshire. Ultimately, a jury concluded that the killer was a 15 year old high school student named William Flynn. Gregory Smart's wife, Pamela (Pame) Smart was found guilty of accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and witness tampering.
Testimony at the trial reported that Flynn and Smart were lovers, and Smart used Flynn as a hit man, threatening to terminate their relationship if he didn't follow through. Smart met Flynn at Winnacunnet High in Hampton, NH where she was the director of media services.
Flynn was sentenced to 28 years for second degree murder, Smart to life without parole. Both Pame Smart and Linda Wojas, her mother, have steadfastly proclaimed Smart's innocence and have been trying to get an appeal heard ever since the trial ended. So far, all requests have been denied.
As the war wound down, NH residents who had become CNN news junkies were about to lose their "fix." Fortunately for them, the Pam Smart trial was about to begin and the entire state turned its attention to the Rockingham County Courthouse. I guess from the news shots of satellite trucks and whatnot, a good portion of the rest of the country followed.
The result was the most covered and most sensational trial in NH history. It had drama such as William Flynn's tearful account of how he killed Gregg Smart. It had a young, stoic widow unemotionally hearing claims of her masterminding the murder of her husband of less than a year, and listening to a conversation with a friend about the case where the friend was wearing a tape recorder set up by the prosecution. It had parents of both sides upset at the other, and everyone's parents and grandparents upset at the how judge Douglas Gray allowed the trial to become so sensationalized.
She spends her time tutoring other inmates and working on correspondence courses, earning a Master's Degree in the Science of Law and a Master's of Arts from Mercy College. A beating by two other inmates in 1996 gave her with a fractured eye socket and other injuries that caused permanent damage. The eye socket damage left her with no sensation on the that side of her face and plastic surgery required installing a metal plate.
ARNIE ALPERT, InDepthNH.org: Pam Smart Supporters Appeal to Gov. Ayotte
CONCORD - On August 1, the thirty-fifth anniversary of Pamela Smart's incarceration, a group of formerly incarcerated women from New York came to the State House to ask Gov. Kelly Ayotte to visit Smart at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York, where Smart is serving a life sentence. Members of the group said that Smart is a kind and compassionate person who has helped hundreds of women improve their lives while they were serving time in prison.
"She's a helping person. She helped a lot of people accomplish their GED and especially their college degrees, and I'm one of them," said Cheryse Murray, who drove up from New York City. "I want her to get her freedom. Thirty-five years is enough."
But it wasn't Smart's freedom the group wanted to emphasize. What they stressed was a desire for Ayotte to meet her.
The group has created a FaceBook page, Pamela Smart's Definitive Freedom 2025, to keep themselves and others in touch.
In a section of the video entitled “accepting responsibility” she said through her experience in “Eve's group” at the correctional facility, she was encouraged to go in to “spaces we did not want to” she became aware of her role in Gregg Smart's death, at their home in Derry but she did not elaborate.
She said she was immature and is now “less impulsive” and now recognizes her “many mistakes.”
In a section of the video entitled “accepting responsibility” she said through her experience in “Eve's group” at the correctional facility, she was encouraged to go in to “spaces we did not want to” she became aware of her role in Gregg Smart's death, at their home in Derry but she did not elaborate.
She said she was immature and is now “less impulsive” and now recognizes her “many mistakes.”
CONCORD - After exhausting all other appeal chances, a bid by Pam Smart to compel the Governor and Executive Council to reconsider giving her a commutation hearing failed with the state Supreme Court Wednesday.
Smart's petition was unanimously dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
The full decision is 2022-0198, Petition of Pamela Smart
Mark Sisti senses that the public and state officials roll their eyes each time the Chichester attorney seeks a hearing before the Executive Council to show why Pam Smart's life-without-parole sentence should be reduced.
Sisti went to bat for Smart again on Tuesday, this time in front of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, the first time he's stated his case before the state's highest court. Sisti has failed in his other three attempts - the most recent was last year - to persuade the Executive Council to grant Smart a hearing, hoping for a shorter sentence. She's one step away from that.
"It took years, even decades, for me to accept responsibility and I must carry that burden, alone and deservedly, for the rest of my life recognizing that the pain and suffering I caused are irreparable," Smart wrote in a letter to the governor and Executive Council apologizing to Gregg Smart's family, her family and "all who were directly or indirectly impacted by my actions and misjudgment."
"This burden is something I can never - and should never - be free of, because my actions have forever changed the course of many lives, including my own."
"We are hopeful this time that she gets a hearing and that we can make her case," said Dr. Eleanor Pam, who served as Smart's academic adviser and later became her advocate and spokesperson. "She certainly deserves a hearing and for my money, she deserves much more than that. She deserves to be released."
Eleanor Pam said the petition is not about "relitigating the case."
"We are looking for executive grace," Pam said. "Clemency is supposed to be about whether the person is rehabilitated and what their contributions to society and in the prison have been. If you look at the petition you can see that Pame's progress and achievements have been more than remarkable."
Will she get a hearing? I don't know, but this looks like a much better chance than any before. The Attorney General's office is reviewing the request, and if they accept it, it will go on to the Executive Council.
Not right away [for the petition], as she presented her case last year, and there's a two year waiting period before she can try again.
"She will be asking for a hearing, not seeking to challenge or overturn the verdict, only for re-evaluation of the sentence and the opportunity for parole at some time in the future," [spokesperson Eleanor Pam] said in a statement.
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The November 2016 issue of NH Magazine devotes the cover and four articles to the Pamela Smart case. In addition to the main article, there are also: |
I assume Vance Jr can't buy a replacement for Dad, but he might be able to give his Dad money to buy a replacement.
"She says she had to serve 90 days in solitary as a result, and the disciplinary action is hurting her hopes of getting a pardon or her sentence commuted from New Hampshire's governor."
The article says:
Pam said their claim that Randall is the shooter is based on forensic gun evidence. "Forensic testimony ruled out a left-handed shooter. Flynn was left handed. We believe they switched their story to create a more sympathetic narrative and motive for the crime," Pam said. A report published in 2006 by journalism students at Keene State College, who spent over a year investigating the case, mentioned a ballistics report showing the gun was fired by a right-handed person.The assertion had no effect on the result of the hearing. Randall was granted parole on April 10th, with a June release date.
Once again, Bill Flynn has cynically used a winning strategy to get himself a better deal. He paints himself as Pamela Smart's victim and blames her for acts he himself committed. Successfully playing the innocent virgin, he weeps into his tissues every chance he gets.
Teenager Flynn was a murderer, a liar and a thief. He was well known to the police and an experienced criminal. He was never Smart's victim but she has certainly been his. For two and a half decades she has been paying for his crimes while and and his gangster co-conspirators have reaped the benefits of their perjurious testimony.
The New Hampshire parole board has today decided to send this self-confessed killer home to his wife while Pamela Smart continues to serve the sentence that should be his - one that ends in 99/99/9999.
Flynn spoke on Thursday to the parole board via phone from Maine, where he is part of a work release program.
"I will always feel terrible about what happened 25 years ago," he said. "Nothing I can say will be of comfort, but I hope this will be the last time (Gregg Smart's family) will be publicly reminded of their grief."
Flynn's accomplishments in prison contributed to the decision, Sytek said. While behind bars, Flynn has earned a college degree, become a journeyman electrician and gotten married. He's also demonstrated he's been able to function in the community during his time in the work release program, she said.
"I have not seen such accomplishments (by inmates)," Sytek said.
Val Fryatt, Gregg's cousin, said she wanted Flynn to fulfill his entire 28-year sentence. There were too many "should have beens," she said.
The hearing is getting international attention. The Herald article also ran in the British tabloid Daily Mail.
Also, Patrick Randall has been moved to a transitional work center next to the NH State Prison, a step toward gaining work release.
Both men have had their sentences reduced from 28 years to 25 for being model prisoners, and now become eligible for parole next June 4th.
Zagar stops just short of arguing for Smart's innocence, but he pokes enough holes in our perception of the facts that in a show of hands at the post-screening Q&A, half the audience who'd assumed she was guilty said they'd changed their minds. Yet when a woman stood up and said she'd like to start a letter-writing campaign to free Smart, only a handful of people applauded in support.
"At the time (the murder) was a featured scandal and everyone was so against her. A friend and I decided to be contrary," he said, adding neither understood the gravity of the situation. "We decided to support her."
At 14, he believed Smart was innocent. He wrote her a letter of support. Smart responded kindly and the pen pal friendship began and continued through Bradley's senior year.
The film will consist of Bradley explaining the situation and reading letters, "and it will be really funny," producer Rae Dawn Chong said.
"Not to make fun of Chris or Pame, it's the insanity of it," she said. "She's serving a life sentence and she's giving sex and love advice to this 14-year-old gay boy!"
The film project launched the "Pame" Kickstarter campaign last week for $2,000, but is shooting for $15,000 or more. The participants hope to film at the Rep in the spring.
"Those who are her supporters, including and especially me, are eager for her to appeal to the new governor through the New Hampshire Executive Council," Pam said. "We are hopeful, and do believe, that the governor will be open to reviewing the facts of the case fairly and that Pamela will finally receive relief from endless, cruel and pointless suffering behind bars for an act she did not commit."
But according to a spokesman for New Hampshire's newly elected Gov. Maggie Hassan, any request from Smart for a pardon is a long shot.
"According to court documents, the New York Attorney general's office and lawyers for Smart are currently working to finalize a settlement agreement.
Smart sued the state in 2006, claiming unfair treatment by prison officials after scantily clad photos of her in a cell appeared in the National Enquirer.
In the suit, she alleges that after the photos appeared in the supermarket tabloid, she was forced to spend two months in a 23-hour-a-day low-down facility."
"While the state's duty to an inmate encompasses protection from the foreseeable risk of harm at the hands of other prisoners, the state is not an insurer of an inmate's safety," the Sept. 22 ruling stated."
An Associated Press article has a good summary of Flynn's time in prison. The article notes that "Flynn has also gotten married, to a woman six years his senior who was coming out of a divorce when they met at the prison." His wife, Kelly, has a teenage daughter.
A May 6th article in various seacoast papers has a good summary. An editorial might note that the process gives online petitions a bad name and are not worth any consideration. Ultimately the petition will either be ignored or denied.
The risk is that parole board will revoke the original parole, the hope is he'll be released by the end of the summer. A parole violation hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 5.
The Nashua Telegraph says the pardon is requesting a reduction in her "life without parole" sentence. That has a chance of being heard, but I'd be very, very surprised if it is granted.
I don't have much experience with parole boards. While the actions seem a bit harsh, they are not surprising. At the parole hearing in 2003, I remember the board sternly telling Fowler that they didn't want to hear about him from the police. The parole board didn't have to let him out early, so it must be easy for them to justify putting him back into prison. Also, parole boards do not pass judgement on the original charge or sentence, they accept them on their face. A common result is that someone who did a crime can impress a parole board with his remorse and rehabilitation, whereas someone unjustly convicted would have to fake the remorse and admit to the crime before winning parole.
I think the following is the germane timeline.
Seabrook Police Chief David Currier said of the events, "High profile or not, rich or poor, we're going to treat people equally." I think this means that Salisbury and Seabrook are bad places for fighting with your girlfriend or spouse.
I did a google search on Smart because last night I saw a movie called 'What I Want My Words To Do To You', a documentary about women at Bedford Hills Prison who are in a writing project with Eve Ensler (the playwright who created the Vagina monologues). Smart is one of the women in the writing group and talks about her case some. I thought the movie was very moving and recommend it if you can find it somewhere. I did hear that it will be shown on PBS on the POV show.The newer note says "This powerful film received a standing ovation at its debut and went on to win an award at the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake this past winter."
Since his earlier hearing, Fowler has been at a halfway house in Concord NH and working in the community. While in prison he learned a furniture building trade but transportation limitations forced him to work as a cook at a nearby restaurant.
Raymond Fowler was scheduled for a parole hearing Tuesday morning. He could be released as early as January.
"He's mentally challenged," William Smart, the victim's father, told WBZ-AM radio. "I don't want to say anything derogatory against the poor kid. He's been there for 12 years and it's time for him to get out. Don't ask me about the other three guys because I'll tell them to stay there forever."
Fowler waited in a car while his 15-year-old friend William Flynn shot insurance salesman Gregory Smart in the Derry condominium he shared with his wife, Pamela, according to prosecutors. Fowler, a Seabrook resident, was 18 at the time. The Portsmouth Herald says that Fowler was more involved than just being the driver.
According to Judge Steven McAuliffe, the appeal mirrored Smart's previous attempt to win a new trial "except for a few minor stylistic changes."
He said Smart's case did not meet the requirements for intervention by a federal court.
Smart also claimed that her Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment was violated because her punishment was more severe than the 28-year sentence given to William Flynn.
Who | sentence | up for parole |
Last incarceration location |
---|---|---|---|
Pamela Smart | life without parole | N/A | Bedford Hills, New York |
William Flynn | 40 years to life, 12 years suspended In 2008 made eligible for parole after serving 25 years In 2015 granted parole |
2015 | Bolduc Correctional Facility, Warren, Maine |
Patrick Randall | 40 years to life, 12 years suspended In 2009 made eligible for parole after serving 25 years |
2015 | New Hampshire State Prison transitional work center |
Vance Lattime | 30 years to life, 12 years suspended (reduced by 3 years in 2005 and paroled) |
2005 | Maine State Prison, Warren, Maine |
Raymond Fowler | 15 to 30 years (paroled in 2003) (returned to prison for a parole violation 2004) (reparoled in June 2005) |
2003 | Concord NH |
This page exists because a counter on http://nhdcyf.info/taping.html reported that several people were finding that page when searching for Pamela Smart or Pam Smart. (The counter saves the referencing URL for a page, and for search engines, picks out the search string involved. It doesn't say who is reading the page, except in a very few circumstances. Typically, all I can identify is your ISP. If you use AOL, well, all I know is that another AOL user visited the page.) I tried searching for Pame Smart information, but didn't find many good resources among the many references to a motion picture about the case. I decided to start this page for curious people.
Somewhat to my surprise this found its way to the top of the typical Google search and high up on others. So now I find I have one of the most read pages on the case and feel that I need to keep it up to date. I even went to the parole hearing for Raymond Fowler in part to be able to update this as soon as possible. Perversely, as I added material, the Google ranking dropped. They seem to elevate short pages, so pages like the Hampton Library's did better. After Google seemed to have mostly blacklisted my ISP, I registered WermeNH.com, I figured the link there might not rank very high since most pages that refer here use the old URL. Still, interested people found their way here, and for quite a while Google let this back into the top few links.
Please forward me any links or accounts that you think should be included here. If I think they add to the story, I'll incorporate them. I'm always curious why people visit this page. Feel free to drop me a note. I don't harvest Email addresses and I use Linux, so it's unlikely you'll ever hear back via a virus.
Contact Ric Werme or return to his home page.
First written 2000 November 1. Last update 2025 Aug 2.