CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte made a decisive move on Thursday by declining Pamela Smart’s request for a hearing to potentially reduce her life sentence, stemming from the notorious 1990 murder of her husband, orchestrated with her teenage lover. Smart, currently 57 years old, was entangled in this grim affair when she served as a 22-year-old high school media coordinator. During this time, she engaged in a relationship with a 15-year-old student, who ultimately became the gunman in the murder of her husband, Gregory Smart, in Derry. Although the shooter regained his freedom in 2015 after fulfilling a 25-year sentence, Smart was found guilty as an accomplice to first-degree murder, among other charges, resulting in a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
After many years of deflecting responsibility, Smart finally took full accountability for her husband’s murder just last year. In a video shared with the public in June, she confessed to years of blame-shifting as a means of self-preservation.
Recently, Smart addressed Governor Ayotte and the governor’s Executive Council in writing, appealing for a hearing to reconsider her sentence. However, Ayotte, a Republican with prior experience as the state attorney general, concluded after a thorough review that Smart’s case does not warrant a hearing before the five-member council.
“Individuals who commit violent offenses must face full legal consequences,” stated Ayotte. “The serious nature of granting a pardon hearing requires it to be reserved for truly exceptional cases.”
In her plea, Smart depicted herself as a reformed person, asserting that she has spent the past 35 years evolving into someone who can contribute positively to society. She voiced remorse, apologizing to both her husband’s family and her own for the loss inflicted by her actions, and acknowledging the decades of life denied to her own loved ones due to her incarceration.
Smart’s trial captivated the nation, setting a precedent as one of the early, sensationalized cases involving a school staff member’s illicit affair with a student. William Flynn, the student involved, testified that Smart pressured him into the murder under the pretext that she stood to lose everything in a divorce. Flynn, along with three other teenagers who cooperated with the prosecution, has since been released.
The case’s notoriety inspired Joyce Maynard’s 1992 book “To Die For” and its subsequent 1995 film adaptation, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix, which brought even greater visibility to the tale.