New Hampshire Supreme Court Will Consider Granting Pamela Smart New Hearing After 32 Years In Prison Following Husband's Murder
Feb. 14 2023, Published 8:15 p.m. ET
After 32 years behind bars, Pamela Smart may have secured a route to freedom. The New Hampshire Supreme Court agreed to a challenge for Smart's life sentence that could result in a new hearing, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In 1991, when Smart was just 22 years old and worked at a New Hampshire school district, she was convicted of persuading a student at her school, Billy Flynn — who she was having an affair with at the time — of murdering her then-husband Gregg Smart.
Captivated by his affair with Smart, Flynn fatally shot Gregg.
Smart's trial gained national attention as one of the first courtroom dramas to play out to a cable audience.
Viewers eventually watched as Smart was convicted as being an accomplice to first-degree murder and was subsequently handed a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Flynn, along with three other accomplices who were tried as adults, cooperated with prosecutors to lessen charges against them.
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More than a decade has passed since Flynn — who was responsible for the fatal gunshot to Gregg's head — walked out of prison as a free man.
The controversial case sparked outrage, as many saw Flynn as a victim, too. Smart adamantly denied that she asked Flynn to kill her husband.
Nonetheless, Smart remained behind bars — until this week, after the state's supreme court agreed to hear a challenge from the former school employee following years of being denied the opportunity.
Due to Smart's decades-long denial that she did not pressure Flynn into killing her late husband, her original trial prosecutors claimed she should be disqualified from mercy on her lifelong sentence.
Smart claimed responsibility for Gregg's death but insisted that she did not orchestrate his murder.
According to ABC News, Smart shared that had she not had an affair, her husband would still be alive.
Should the state's supreme court rule in favor of Smart's challenge, the convicted accomplice will have the opportunity to argue for a commutation of her life sentence to the New Hampshire governor and his executive council.
A commutation differs from a pardon, which absolves a person of the crime they were convicted of. Commutations are typically granted in cases of good behavior among other factors.