Pamela Smart
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| Pamela Wojas-Smart | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 16, 1967 Coral Gables, Florida |
| Penalty | Life without parole |
| Status | Imprisoned |
| Occupation | Former teacher |
| Spouse | Greggory Smart (deceased) |
| Parents | John & Linda Wojas |
| Children | None |
Pamela Ann Smart (nee Wojas) (born August 16, 1967), is serving a life sentence for accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering in New Hampshire. Smart was convicted for conspiring with her 15-year-old lover, William Flynn, and his three friends to kill her 24-year-old husband, Gregg Smart, in Derry, New Hampshire.
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[edit] Early life and marriage
Smart went to high school at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, where she was a cheerleader. She went to college at Florida State University and graduated with honors with a communications degree. In prison, Smart has spent her time tutoring other inmates and has completed two masters degrees, in literature and legal studies, which were paid for with private funds from Mercy College.
Smart met Flynn at "Project Self-Esteem" at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire, where Smart and Flynn were both volunteers. Smart was employed as a media services coordinator at Winnacunnet, and Flynn was a sophomore. She had also met another intern named Cecilia Pierce who was friends with Billy Flynn.
[edit] Murder
Smart was accused of seducing 15-year-old William "Billy" Flynn and threatening to leave him unless he killed her husband. Flynn did so with the help of two friends on May 1, 1990.
During the investigation J.R. Lattime's father brought a .38 he'd found in his house to the police, believing it might have been the murder weapon. An annoynmous tip also indicated that a teenager named Cecilia Pierce was aware of the plan. Police talked to Cecilia and she then agreed to wear a wire and record some conversations with Smart, in hopes that she'd say something incriminating. Of course they did get enough out of her and Smart was set up. On the first of August 1, 1990 Pam Smart was arrested for the murder of her husband.
Smart's trial was widely watched and garnered considerable media attention. In her testimony, Smart acknowledged that she had had an affair with the teenager, but claimed that the murder of her husband was solely the doing of Flynn and his friends, borne as a reaction to her telling Flynn that she wished to end their relationship and repair her marriage. She insisted that she neither participated in the murder plot nor had any foreknowledge of it. According to Cecilia Pierce in her trial testimony, Smart and Flynn were originally just friends. She first noticed a change around February, when Smart confessed to Pierce that she "loved Bill."
Smart was convicted in March 1991, largely as a result of the testimony of her conspirators and secretly-taped conversations in which Smart appeared to contradict her claims of having wanted to reconcile with her husband and of having no knowledge of the boys' plot. She could have been charged with capital murder, but the prosecution decided against it. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
[edit] Incarceration
Smart has consistently proclaimed her innocence at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York State where she is serving a life sentence. Smart was transferred to Bedford Hills, a maximum security facility, from the New Hampshire State Prison for Women in Goffstown, New Hampshire in 1993. She has conceded that if she had not had an affair with Flynn, Greg would still be alive. She has never admitted guilt even in prison. On her paperwork the earliest she can come up for parole is 99/99/9999. Smart has seen many aspects of prison life, including sexual assault, violence, harassment and involuntary protective custody. She has never seen any hybrid cars or even an ipod. She has not voted in the last four presidential elections. She has not blown out any birthday candles or unwrapped any Christmas presents under her family tree in almost 18 years.
In October 1996, Smart was severely beaten by inmates Mona Graves and Ghania Miller, resulting in a metal plate being placed in the left side of her face. The two inmates were convicted of second-degree assault in an attack at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. The two inmates were transferred to separate prisons. [1] In 2003, pictures of her scantily clad were published in the National Enquirer and she was subsequently placed in solitary confinement. She sued claiming this amounted to unfair treatment. Her lawsuit was dismissed.[2] In 2006, she sued officials of Bedford Hills, claiming sexual harassment, and also sexual assault by a guard, who she also claimed coerced her into posing for the suggestive pictures published of her in 2003.[3]
Albert Johnson, Smart's attorney from Boston, Massachusetts, is nationally known for his high-profile clients, such as Patty Hearst and F. Lee Bailey. In April 2004, the First U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a 2002 ruling by a federal judge who rejected her federal habeas petition. Previous to her federal appeal, Smart had exhausted all judicial appeals at the state level. In July 2005, the New Hampshire Executive Council unanimously denied a pardon request for "any conditions the governor may seek to impose."
[edit] Recent Events
After Pam turned 40, she was interviewed by ABC News and saying she's afraid of growing old and dying in prison. Smart has already maintained her innocence for 18 years from the day of Greg Smart's murder.[4]
William Flynn is incarcerated at the Maine State Prison in Warren, earned his GED, and has been active in charity work, earning money as an electrician at the prison. After serving 16 years, he sought a sentence reduction, telling the judge that he had vowed not to do so until he had spent as many years behind bars as he had spent free.[5] On February 12, 2008, Billy Flynn was denied early release by Judge Kenneth McHugh concluding that 18 years in prison is not enough time in prison, especially since Gregg Smart's family opposed Flynn's early release request. The judge made Flynn eligible for parole after spending 25 years in prison, that would be a 3 year reduction.[6]
[edit] In popular culture
The trial spawned a television movie starring Helen Hunt and Chad Allen, Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story, and inspired the Joyce Maynard novel To Die For, which was adapted into the Gus Van Sant 1995 movie To Die For, starring Nicole Kidman. The case was also the subject of several best-selling true crime books, including Teach Me To Kill and Deadly Lessons.
The story also inspired the musical, Alive at Ten, with music and lyrics by Ryan Scott Oliver and book by Kirsten A. Guenther.
Pamela Smart's life is profiled on Snapped a television series on the Oxygen Network that profiles female criminals and murderers.
[edit] References
- ^ 2 inmates guilty of beating Pamela Smart December 5, 1997
- ^ Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Brought by Pamela Smart July 30, 2006
- ^ Inmate Pam Smart Sues Jail and Guard for Sexual Assault Feb 13, 2006
- ^ Pamela Smart Maintains Innocence in Prison December 19, 2007
- ^ Pamela Smart's former teen lover seeks sentence reduction. Associated Press (2007-10-23).
- ^ Gunman in Smart case denied release February 12, 2008
