Pamela Smart said she admitted “for the first time” that she was responsible for her husband’s murder after decades of deflecting blame with “distorted logic”.
“I found myself responsible for something I desperately didn’t want to be responsible for, the murder of my husband,” Smart said in a video message from prison obtained by Fox News Digital.
That epiphany, she says, came during a prison writing class, where her instructor pushed the group to “dig deeper…into my own mind, into my own heart.”
Smart, now 56, spent nearly 34 years behind bars as part of a life sentence without the possibility of parole for her role in The murder of Gregory Smart in 1990. The murder was carried out by four teenagers, led by a boy with whom she was having an affair.
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In this 1991 file photo, Pamela Smart testifies in Rockingham County Superior Court in Exeter, NH. (The Associated Press)
In May 1990, Billy Flynn, then 16, shot Gregory Smart in the head while Patrick Randall, then 17, held a knife to his throat.
Pamela Smart, who was 22 at the time and was the instructor in Flynn’s Hampton program, New Hampshirehigh school, was sneaking around with Flynn.
During the trial, Flynn testified that Pamela threatened to break up with him if he didn’t do so. kill her husband.
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Flynn, Randall and two other teenagers from the time, who were the getaway drivers, served their sentences and have since been released.
“It has taken me decades to come to a point where I can better understand and accept responsibility for my inexcusable actions and behaviors,” Pamela wrote in a March letter to New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, in which she pleads for a pardon.
Pamela Smart admitted responsibility for her husband’s murder in her latest request for clemency. (AP Photo/Jon Pierre Lasseigne, file)
She said in the letter that she lied to herself and “rationalized it, because I wasn’t there the night Gregg was murdered, because I didn’t pull the trigger, I didn’t I wasn’t responsible.”
“I felt comfortable in my twisted logic because I didn’t want to admit that Gregg’s murder was no one’s fault but my own,” Pamela wrote.
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In the statement videotaped from New York’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, where she is serving her sentence, she used this “distorted” rationalization as a “coping mechanism.” because the truth of being so responsible was very difficult for me.”
Gregg’s cousin, Val Fryatt, didn’t believe Pamela’s long pauses and emotions in the 4.5-minute video, telling the Associated Press that she “danced around it… without admitting the facts around what made her ‘entirely responsible'”.
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In this March 9, 1991, file photo, Patrick Randall, 17, testifies in Rockingham County Superior Court in Exeter, N.H. Randall held a knife to Gregory Smart’s throat in May 1990 while Billy Flynn, who was Pamela Smart’s teenage lover, shot her. the head. Flynn was eventually released on parole; Smart is serving a life sentence without parole after being convicted of conspiracy to murder. (The Associated Press)
The video is part of an 83-page petition – dated June 7 – that includes a long list of academic achievements, employment and nearly 30 letters of support from fellow inmates, prison employees, religious leaders and friends.
Even Peter Stern, the Brooklyn nets CFO, wrote a letter on his behalf.
This is the fourth time Pamela has asked the New Hampshire Governor and Executive Council to commute her sentence.
“I don’t want to die in prison,” she wrote.
The most recent attempt took place in March 2022, when she was refused the right to present his case “in a matter of minutes,” said his lawyer, Mark Sisti.
WATCH FULL STATEMENT FROM PRISON RECORDED ON VIDEO
The petition “illustrates overwhelming evidence” of “rehabilitation, remorse, self-improvement, and true dedication to redemption,” Sisti wrote in the filing. “She has matured beyond her years and realized her role in her husband’s murder.”
Sisti told Fox News Digital that it was entirely up to the Governor’s Executive Council to hear Pamela’s petition.
Pamela Smart takes the oath before testifying in her own defense in Rockingham County Court. (Getty Images)
The governor told Fox News Digital in an email that his petition will not be on the agenda for today’s meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for June 26, the Executive Council said.
The question of whether his request will be taken into account remains unresolved, as the governor has been evasive.
In an emailed statement to Fox News Digital, Governor Sununu said, “New Hampshire’s process for commutation or pardon requests is fair and thorough. Pamela Smart will have the same opportunity to request a hearing with the Council as any other person.
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READ THE FULL PETITION
She said in the videotaped statement that she can see the missteps she made decades ago, including failing to take responsibility for her actions.
“Now that I’m older and able to look back, I can see so many mistakes that I made, and I can see how biased and immature my judgment was,” Pamela said in the video.
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“I’m such a different person than I was. I’m more thoughtful than I used to be. I think carefully before making decisions and I’m less impulsive and just more responsible and mature than I was back then.”
Pamela is believed to be the longest-serving inmate at the Bedford Hills Women’s Prison, where she was sent by the state of New Hampshire following her 1991 conviction.
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“I respectfully request the opportunity to appear before you, the New Hampshire Executive Council, and have an honest conversation with you regarding my incarceration, my acceptance of responsibility and all of your concerns, all of your questions ” she said during the press conference. end of recorded statement.
“If I could come in person or via video conference so we can share an honest conversation, I would be extremely grateful.”
