Fowler Due To Be Paroled

By Susan Morse

Hampton Union, Friday, May 3, 2005

[The following article is courtesy of the Hampton Union and Seacoast Online.]

SEABROOK -- Raymond Fowler, 34, of Seabrook, released from prison two years ago after serving time as an accessory in the Pamela Smart murder case, is scheduled to be paroled again from the state prison in Concord on June 14.

This time, Fowler will not be allowed to reside in his hometown as he did after his last parole. He has requested Nashua instead, according to John Eckert, executive assistant to the Parole Board.

Before Fowler can be released, his parole officer must first be satisfied with Fowler's living and work arrangements, said Eckert.

Fowler has been back in prison since June on a parole violation relating to a late-night visit to his former girlfriend in Salisbury.

Pleading guilty in March to a witness-tampering charge relating to the visit, Fowler received a one-to-three-year prison sentence. His parole date of June 14 will represent one year served, said Eckert.

The Parole Board ordered no additional time for the parole violation, he said.

Fowler was a teenager who waited in the getaway car in the 1990 murder of Gregory Smart. Had he served his full sentence, Fowler would not be out of prison until 2013 on the burglary conviction in connection to Smart's murder. Fowler has already served his time on a conspiracy to murder conviction.

Another participant in the Smart case may also be freed from prison this year.

Vance "J.R." Lattime, who also was a teenager at the time, had his sentence reduced by three years in February, making him eligible for parole later this year.

Lattime, now 31, was convicted of second-degree murder and has been serving a sentence of 18 years to life in Thomaston State Prison in Maine.

Lattime will come before the N.H. Parole Board in person or through video conferencing, said Eckert. No date had been set as of Monday.

In the Smart case, Fowler and Lattime waited in the getaway car while their friend, William Flynn, then 15, went inside Smart's home and shot her husband, 24-year-old Gregory Smart.

Flynn was having an affair with Pamela, who worked at the teens' Winnacunnet High School. A fourth teen, Patrick Randall, was in the house with Flynn.