Web Site Linked to Smart Case Launched

Fowler Brothers Want Raymond to Testify

By Susan Morse

Hampton Union, Friday, August 6, 2004

[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online.]
Raymond Fowler was arraigned Tuesday on
witness tampering charges.
[Sue Morse photo]

SEABROOK - The older brothers of Raymond Fowler, 32, have started a Web site to let the public know there is another side to the Pamela Smart murder case it has yet to hear.

Neither the Web site, http://raymond.sealynx.net/, nor brothers William, 35, and Robert, 38, say what testimony Raymond could add to what has already been said during Smart's trial for first-degree murder more than a decade ago.

The Web home page opens with a photo of Raymond Fowler, 32, smiling and looking relaxed in a Boston Red Sox cap. It gives a three-paragraph description of Fowler since May 1, 1990, when, "he took a ride with three of his friends" who "coerced" him into accompanying them on the ride, according to the Web site.

They simply want to raise the question, Robert said this week, of why Raymond was never called on to testify during her trial.

"The big question," Robert Fowler said, is, "why was he never brought out in Pame Smart's trial? The state knew his testimony would contradict a lot (of testimony)."

The family is raising the issue now, William said, because Raymond has been "railroaded" back into prison on, according to the Web site, "a trumped-up parole violation from an unfair parole officer."

Fowler served 12 years for conspiracy to murder and attempted burglary for his role in the Pamela Smart case. He was released on parole in April 2003, and living at home in Seabrook, when on June 8, he and his brother William took a ride to Salisbury, Mass., in the middle of the night in search of Raymond's then girlfriend.

Fowler testified during his parole hearing last week he believed she was pregnant with his child and using drugs. The brothers found her in an apartment building with another man.

Fowler admitted to banging on a door, a window, and letting air out of a tire of her car.

Salisbury police told the men to expect a summons in the mail for disturbing the peace. None has arrived, William Fowler said on Tuesday.

Fowler's parole officer arrested Raymond on June 15 for violating parole, based on the Salisbury case. Seabrook police have since charged Fowler with a felony of witness tampering in connection to the Salisbury incident.

Fowler remains in prison awaiting sentencing on the parole violation and the outcome of the felony charge. He could serve eight more years for breaking parole and additional time on a witness tampering conviction.

The family has had enough, said Raymond's mother Paula Fowler. Her son has done enough time, she said.

The Web home page opens with a photo of Raymond Fowler, 32, smiling and looking relaxed in a Boston Red Sox cap.

It gives a three-paragraph description of Fowler since May 1, 1990, when, "he took a ride with three of his friends" who "coerced" him into accompanying them on the ride, according to the Web site.

That night Fowler's friend, William Flynn, then 15, shot Gregory Smart to death in the home Smart shared with his wife, Pamela, 22. Flynn was having an affair with Pamela, a media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School.

Pamela Smart is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for masterminding the plot to kill her husband.

Fowler was convicted of waiting in the getaway car.

"Raymond is the only person involved in the Greg Smart murder case that has never been allowed to tell his side of this tragic case publicly," states the site. "The State of New Hampshire knew that if Raymond was allowed to speak, it would negatively affect the case they had created against Pamela Smart."