Pamela Smart

On May 1, 1990, Gregory Smart, 24, an insurance salesman, was found shot to death in the condominium he shared with his wife Pamela Smart in Derry, New Hampshire. The murder initially appeared to be a burglary gone wrong. Within months, however, investigators discovered that Pamela Smart, 22, a media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire, had seduced a 15-year-old student named William "Billy" Flynn and manipulated him into killing her husband with the help of two other teenagers.

[The case was one of the first high-profile trials to be televised in its entirety](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/01/pamela-smart-case-murder-new-hampshire) and is considered a precursor to the media saturation that would characterize later cases. It also inspired Joyce Maynard's novel "To Die For" and the 1995 film of the same name starring Nicole Kidman.

Pamela Anne Wojas was born on August 16, 1967, in Coral Gables, Florida, and grew up in Windham, New Hampshire. She graduated from Florida State University with a degree in communications and returned to New Hampshire, where she married Gregg Smart in 1989. She was hired as a media services coordinator at Winnacunnet High School, where she worked with students on the school's television station.

In the fall of 1989 and early 1990, Pamela began a sexual relationship with Billy Flynn, a sophomore at the school who was 15 years old. According to Flynn's testimony and the testimony of Cecelia Pierce, another student and Pamela's confidante, Smart told Flynn that she wanted her husband dead and that she would end their relationship if Flynn did not kill him. Smart reportedly provided information about the couple's schedule, helped plan the logistics, and ensured she had an alibi for the night of the murder.

On the evening of May 1, 1990, while Pamela attended a school board meeting, Flynn and two friends — Patrick "Pete" Randall, 17, and Vance Lattime Jr., 17 — entered the Smart condominium. When Gregg arrived home, Flynn shot him in the head with a .38-caliber Charter Arms revolver. Raymond Fowler, 18, served as the getaway driver.

The break in the case came when Cecelia Pierce, who had been confided in by both Pamela and the teenage accomplices, went to the police. Pierce agreed to wear a wire and record conversations with Smart in which Smart made incriminating statements about the murder.

[Smart was convicted and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in 1991](https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/01/us/pamela-smart-30-years-prison/index.html). The case generated enormous media attention, captivating the public with its sensational details of a teacher seducing a student and manipulating him into murder.

The Pamela Smart case raised important questions about the liability of adults who manipulate minors into committing violent crimes, the ethics of televising trials, and the disparities in sentencing between the adult mastermind and the teenage accomplices. Critics of Smart's sentence have pointed out that she received a harsher sentence than the person who actually pulled the trigger. [All of Smart's teenage accomplices have since been paroled, with Flynn being released in 2015 after serving 25 years](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/04/billy-flynn-who-killed-for-pamela-smart-released-from-prison/story.html).

Billy Flynn, Patrick Randall, and Vance Lattime Jr. all pleaded guilty to reduced charges and agreed to testify against Smart in exchange for lighter sentences. Flynn received 28 years to life for second-degree murder; Randall received 28 years to life; Lattime received 18 years to life. Raymond Fowler received 15 to 30 years.

[Pamela Smart's trial began on March 4, 1991, in Rockingham County Superior Court in Exeter, New Hampshire. It was the first trial in New Hampshire history to be broadcast live on television](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/01/pamela-smart-case-murder-new-hampshire). The prosecution presented Flynn's testimony, the wiretap recordings, and testimony from multiple students who described Smart's relationship with Flynn and her statements about wanting her husband dead.

Smart testified in her own defense, denying that she had asked anyone to kill her husband or that she had a sexual relationship with Flynn before the murder. She admitted to a sexual relationship after the murder but maintained her innocence in the planning.

On March 22, 1991, after approximately thirteen hours of deliberation, the jury found Smart guilty of conspiracy to commit murder, being an accomplice to first-degree murder, and witness tampering. [She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole](https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/01/us/pamela-smart-30-years-prison/index.html) — New Hampshire's mandatory sentence for first-degree murder.

Smart has maintained her innocence throughout her imprisonment. She is incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, New York. [Multiple petitions for sentence commutation have been denied by the New Hampshire Governor's Council, most recently in 2023](https://www.npr.org/local/305/2023/10/18/1206789012/pamela-smart-commutation-denied).

All of Smart's teenage accomplices have been paroled, with Flynn being released in 2015 after serving 25 years.