'I never stood a chance': Pamela Smart trial, a three-decades-old frenzy, then and now
Hampton Union, March 4th, 2021
[The following article is courtesy of the Union Leader]
HAMPTON — Pamela Smart has had a lot of time to think about the murder of her husband, Gregg, and the trial that resulted in her conviction and put her behind bars with no chance for parole.
She maintains to this day she is not the cold-blooded vixen portrayed in the movie “To Die For” or the Black Widow mastermind behind her husband’s death.
“I didn’t get a fair trial,” said Smart, 53, in a recent interview from the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York. “It was a media circus, and I was found guilty in the court of public opinion long before I even stepped in the courtroom.
“I feel like I never stood a chance," she said. "No one would want someone they love to endure a trial like mine.”
Smart is serving a life sentence after being found guilty on March 22, 1991, of witness tampering, conspiracy to commit murder and being an accomplice to first-degree murder. She was accused of plotting her husband’s murder by convincing 16-year-old William “Billy” Flynn, with whom she was having sexual relations, to shoot her husband with the help of his three friends and make it look like a botched burglary.
Why was Pamela Smart convicted?
Smart was 22 at the time, working as a media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, where Flynn, of Seabrook, attended as a sophomore.
On May 1, 1990, Flynn and his friends drove to Smart’s Derry condominium while she was at a School Board meeting and waited for 24-year-old Gregg to come home from work. Police said Flynn’s friend Patrick “Pete” Randall held Gregg’s hair with one hand and placed a knife to his face with the other, while Flynn shot him execution-style with a Charter Arms .38-caliber revolver.
Gregg reportedly begged for his life and refused to hand over his wedding band, saying “My wife would kill me.”
Vance "JR" Lattime Jr., 17, who secured the gun and vehicle, and Raymond Fowler, 18, who went along for the ride, waited inside the car.
All four received reduced sentences for their cooperation in the Pamela Smart case, and they have all since been released from prison.
The first televised trial
Thirty years ago, before O.J. Simpson, the Menendez brothers or even Scott Peterson, this was the case that captivated America and beyond.
Pamela Smart says it was “reality TV before reality TV was everywhere.”
News crews from all over the world, from as far away as Israel and Australia, descended at the Rockingham County Superior Court in Exeter, N.H. to cover the two-week trial.
It was the first New Hampshire trial that aired “gavel to gavel” on Court TV. WMUR-TV interrupted its soaps “All My Children” and “One Life to Live” to carry it live each day.
Smart fueled the media early on, giving interviews days after the murder, playing the role of grieving widow, only to be charged three months later with being the mastermind. She was immediately dubbed the “Spouse from Hell,” “Ice Princess,” and the national media played up that she was a teacher, when in fact she was not.
“It was a sensational story and just about everybody was caught up in it,” said Susan Maddocks Salk, who covered the trial for Rockingham County Newspapers, which included the Exeter News-Letter and Hampton Union. “People in town were watching. There was daily coverage. Every little sandwich shop had the TV on.”
Salk remembers getting a call in the newsroom from a Japanese news agency, asking her to tell them “anything” about the case. The demand to watch the trial in person was so great that court officials, she said, started a lottery to seat the first 30 who arrived, with media reports of people waiting in line as early as 4 a.m.
Prosecutors cast Pamela Smart as manipulating teen with sex
Prosecutors Diane Nicolosi and Paul Maggiotto painted Pamela Smart as a manipulative seductress who deflowered a “virgin” Flynn to kill her husband — six days before their one-year wedding anniversary — because divorce was out of the question.
Smart, they said, would lose her dog Hayley, named after her favorite band Van Halen, her furniture and would have to move out of her condo in Derry.
There was also a $140,000 insurance policy on Gregg’s life.
“She told (Bill) that if he wasn’t going to do it, they couldn’t see each other anymore,” Nicolosi told the jury.
Nicolosi said testimony would show Pamela Smart was the one who got Flynn to enlist his friends, told him to use a gun and not a knife because it was “too messy” and might stain the white leather furniture. Nicolosi said Smart told Flynn she would leave the bulkhead door open to the condo, and asked him to ransack the place and steal jewelry to make it look like a botched burglary. She also drove Flynn and his friends to Haverhill, Massachusetts, to pick up the vehicle they used to drive to Derry.
Smart’s defense attorneys Paul Twomey and Mark Sisti painted Flynn and his three friends, referred to in town as the "Three Musketeers," as “thrill killers.”
The “cold-blooded murderers” conspired to kill Gregg on their own, Sisti said, and now were conspiring against Smart to save their own hides, noting all three of the state’s “star witnesses” cut deals.
Faced with life imprisonment, he said, they made deals with the devil.
The killing, Sisti told the jury, was fueled by Flynn’s “sex, obsession and jealousy” after Pamela broke up with him.
“Did it trigger Flynn to go on his little thrill kill?" Sisti said. “You bet it did.”
What happened when Billy Flynn testified?
Former reporter Cara Connors covered the trial for the Hampton Union and recalls when Maggiotto said, “The state calls William Flynn to the stand.”
“It was like everybody shut up and went quiet and turned to the door (to look at Flynn),” said Connors, adding the only sounds that followed were click, click, click, from the photographers' cameras.
“This was the moment that everybody had been waiting for.”
Flynn, she said, with his mullet haircut and wearing a sweater with a dress shirt underneath, came across as a “believable” young, infatuated 16-year-old and she remembers seeing him sneaking glances at Pamela Smart from the stand.
Flynn recounted how he first met Smart at 15 when he and his best friend Vance “JR” Lattime became student facilitators for Project Self Esteem, a drug prevention and self-awareness program for freshmen at Winnacunnet High School.
Smart was a volunteer adult facilitator and Flynn said the two bonded over their shared love for rock bands Van Halen, Motley Crue and Whitesnake.
The friendship grew when Smart coaxed him and her intern Cecelia Pierce, another Winnacunnet student, to help her film an orange juice commercial in a contest where the winners would get a free trip to Disney World.
Flynn said everything changed when Smart admitted she had feelings for him.
“I was happy, it’s not every day a 15-year-old gets a 22-year-old to say she likes you,” he said on the stand.
He recounted how they first made out in his bedroom listening to the song “Starry Eyes” by Motley Crue. Their first time having sex was after watching “9½ Weeks,” where he testified that she performed a striptease for him to Van Halen’s “Black and Blue,” reenacting the movie's ice cube scene between Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger.
It was also that night, he testified, Pamela Smart first talked about killing Gregg and said he was abusive toward her.
Flynn said he committed the murder because Smart, who went by the name Pame (pronounced Pam), said it was the only way they could be together.
Flynn broke down on the stand explaining the moments leading up to him pulling the trigger.
"I cocked the hammer back and pointed the gun at his head," he said. "I just stood there ... for a hundred years, it seemed like.
"I said, ‘God, forgive me.’ ... I pulled the trigger."
Maggiotto asked him why he said, “God, forgive me?”
“I didn't want to kill Gregg. You know, I wanted to be with Pame. And that's what I had to do to be with Pame,” he said.
Defense lawyer still blames Billy Flynn
Sisti, to this day, scoffs at Flynn's tears in court, saying, “They were crocodile tears.”
“He didn’t have remorse for anything that he did,” Sisti said in a recent interview. “Somebody should be asking him questions about him partying after he put a bullet in someone’s head.”
Sisti was referring to testimony that came out during the trial from Lattime, who said they were singing “Shoo Fly Pie” on the way back from the murder and Randall’s testimony that after the shooting, Flynn snatched the money out of Gregg’s wallet. Randall, who his friends said wanted to be a “hired assassin,” also testified they tried to pawn the jewelry stolen from Smart’s condo at Hampton Beach for cocaine.
Sisti said Flynn and Lattime had plenty of time to concoct their stories as they shared a jail cell during the trial, watching each other’s testimony, a fact that came out during cross-examination.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Sisti. “And there is a question as to what other deals were made with them for their testimony.”
Sisti said the defense attempted to recall Flynn to the stand after receiving letters during the trial that Flynn had written in jail. In the letters, Flynn bragged about his involvement in the murder and wrote “(The attorney general is) afraid I’ll get on the stand and say she’s innocent” and it was either “her or us.” The judge denied the request.
Pamela Smart disputed Billy Flynn's version of events
“Emotionless,” “devoid of emotion,” “Ice Maiden” were just a few of the words that described Smart’s performance on the stand in newspapers at the time.
Pamela Smart testified she had a brief affair with Flynn because she was devastated by her husband’s own affair.
“I was devastated and very hurt,” Smart said. “I didn’t feel as important anymore.”
Smart described the relationship with Flynn as tumultuous and that she tried to break it off numerous times, but Flynn threatened to kill himself.
She said she told Gregg about her own affair. And the two agreed to make their marriage work. That is when she broke it off with Flynn for the last time, just a few days before her husband’s murder.
Smart said she never went to police about the affair because they didn’t ask and she was ashamed. She also didn’t think Flynn could have done it.
Pamela Smart's words on tape used against her
Lead prosecutor Paul Maggiotto, who is now a private practice lawyer in Concord, said the most damning evidence in the case was Smart’s own words.
“I tell people to listen to the tapes,” said Maggiotto, if they question Smart’s guilt or innocence. “If you listen to the tapes, you come away with no question that she is guilty as hell.”
Maggiotto was referring to the infamous wiretap tapes between 15-year-old Cecelia Pierce and Smart.
Pierce was Smart’s intern and confidant who knew about Smart’s affair and the plot to kill Gregg. She turned herself in to Derry police after hearing rumors that a female juvenile was about to be arrested in connection to the case. She was never charged, but Derry police got her to wear a wire to get Smart on tape.
The tapes were played during the trial – and while the sound quality was poor and at times inaudible – what was heard was damning.
In the transcripts, Smart admitted the boys carried out the murder to look like a burglary as she had planned by saying “right” to Pierce and stated that "nothing was going wrong" until the boys told another teen about it. She also told Pierce to lie to the police.
"I think I've been a very good friend to you and that's the thing, even if you send me to the f***ing slammer, or you don't, and if anybody sends me, it's gonna be you," Smart said.
She also said "they (the boys) made their own decisions."
Smart said on that same tape that if she was arrested, she would admit to the affair, but deny any involvement in the murder plot.
Smart testified during the trial the statements on the tape were deliberate as she was trying to find out information about the murder from Pierce as she was shut out of the police investigation.
She said her attorney even tipped her off that Pierce was wearing a wire.
Maggiotto said her story was “ridiculous” and the jury saw through it.
“So you admit that you're part of a murder plan to somehow do what?” Maggiotto said. “It didn’t make sense.”
Smart said she found comfort in Flynn, who was easy to talk to, but “didn’t set out to have an affair with him.”
She confirmed Flynn’s story they had sex after watching “9½ Weeks,” but said she did not do any striptease or have him reenact the ice cube scene from the movie.
“I think he’s having a hard time distinguishing where reality began and where the movie stopped,” she said.
She also disputed giving him photos of her suggestively posing in a bikini, saying that they were for a modeling contest, or telling him that Gregg was abusive.
In recent years, Smart has claimed she was manic on Prozac, prescribed after her husband's death, and questioned the authenticity of the tapes.
“She’s now saying there was errors on the tape,” Maggiotto said. “’The tape was altered.’ This didn’t come up in trial and all of sudden she is trying to say now these are issues. It’s a crock of s**t.”
Was the trial fair?
Sisti said Smart did not receive a fair trial.
“I don’t think there was a trial before then or since then in the state of N.H. that allowed for such a bizarre media circus,” Sisti said. “It was the most bizarre case that I was ever on in my life, and I’ve been practicing law now for 42 years.”
Sisti said the defense wanted no part in the trial being broadcast “gavel to gavel” and that the judge made what he perceived as several errors by denying motions early on, including their request to sequester the jury as well as a change of venue request.
Smart would go on to exhaust all her appeals including questions on whether she received a fair trial with all the media publicity.
Maggiotto said the arguments have been heard and rightfully rejected.
“The standard line (from the defense) was somehow the media tainted the jury and therefore she didn’t get a fair trial,” Maggiotto said.
Maggiotto said the problem with that argument is the defense didn’t even use all of their challenges during jury selection, meaning they were happy with the jury selected.
“During the trial, you would have to show that somehow the media printed stuff that was highly prejudicial to Pame Smart and that somehow the jury then read it and made them biased to Pame Smart,” Maggiotto said. “There is just no evidence.”
Smart’s only hope now is a pardon or sentence reduction from the New Hampshire governor and executive council. Her last two requests have been denied without a hearing.
The request, Sisti said, should be considered.
“Everybody, in this case, is on the street right now except for her,” Sisti said, referring to Flynn and the other teens involved being freed. “Everybody. The one thing everybody can agree with me on is that she didn’t kill anybody. She killed no one. She didn’t arrange for the firearm to be procured. She didn’t arrange for the ammunition to be procured. She didn’t load the gun. She didn’t pull the trigger. None of those things and she is the only one still in jail."
“If you want to talk about guilt or innocence, sometimes it runs a fine line, but I will tell you the people who were guilty as hell are on the street.”
Maggiotto said Smart is where she belongs, incarcerated.
“I think the first step to any rehabilitation is admitting your responsibility, and she hasn’t done that,” Maggiotto said. “She’s never said, 'I planned this. I’m responsible for it, I made it happen.'”
Linda Wojas is on a mission for her daughter
Linda Wojas said she has no doubts about her daughter’s innocence.
She has spent the last 30 years working to get her daughter out of prison and said she will continue to her last dying breath.
"I only want my daughter home while I’m alive," Wojas said in an interview in early February.
She admits to wondering if her daughter could have played a role in such a heinous crime, but says her heart immediately takes over and says no.
“She loved Gregg and she still loves Gregg,” said Wojas.
She questions to this day the authenticity of the tapes that convicted her daughter and whether Flynn was the triggerman, saying the forensics don’t match the story he told on the stand as proved during trial. At 79, she continues to look for any information that will help her daughter's case for a sentence reduction from the governor.
She has talked to informants telling her that Flynn was not a virgin as he claimed on the stand, meaning he committed perjury. She also received a written letter from a prisoner who served with Flynn and Lattime at Rockingham County Jail during the trial and stated the two were doing drugs inside the jail.
She’s now focusing her efforts on Maggiotto after a case he prosecuted in New York before coming to New Hampshire in 1990 was recently vacated because he didn’t turn over key evidence that could have helped the defendant.
Wojas wonders if he did the same thing in her daughter’s case.
Wojas said she follows up on every lead, hoping it will be the one that makes the difference in her daughter's case, even though her husband John, Pamela’s father, tells her to slow down.
“I hope God lets me live long enough to prove her innocence. I really do,” Wojas said.
Wojas recalls she once told Pame to admit to her role in the murder even if it wasn't true, thinking it would help in a sentence reduction request.
"She said 'Mom, I didn't do that. I want no part of that. I can't and I hope you understand.'"
Wojas recently self-published a book "To Live For" detailing her thoughts on the case, including excerpts from Smart's prison diary. She said she put the book out not to make money but to get people to know her daughter the way she does.
"I wasn’t dying without at least getting some of the truth out," Wojas said.
Where is Pamela Smart today?
Smart says she's not the same person she was 30 years ago.
While in prison, she has received two master’s degrees, one in criminal law and another in English literature, and became an ordained minister in June.
Prison life, however, hasn’t always been easy.
In 1996, she was severely beaten by two fellow inmates, resulting in the insertion of a permanent plastic plate in the left side of her face. In 2003, she claims she was raped by a prison guard, who then sold photos of her to the National Enquirer. Smart sued the state of New York after the photos leaked and she received a $23,875 settlement.
Smart says she does not allow her incarceration to turn her bitter.
Instead, she said she has concentrated her time helping others in prison from tutoring adult basic education, working as a peer facilitator in the AIDS counseling education office, and working with emotionally and mentally challenged inmates.
“I feel like I have to do what I can to make my life rich in here,” Smart said. “There are many people who need help and God has gifted me with certain skills that I can help others. I’m motivated to do what I can to leave a positive impact wherever I am.”
Smart said she has taken responsibility for the role she played in her husband’s death. Had she not had an affair, her husband would be alive today.
She said she has to live with that for the rest of her life.
When she thinks about Gregg, she said the first thing that comes to mind is his “smile.”
Gregg and Pame met at a party in Derry, when Pame came home for Christmas break from Florida State University. They bonded over their shared love for heavy metal music and Gregg would move to Florida so he could be with her during her senior year. Gregg was outgoing and loved four-wheeling, skiing and gambling.
The two got engaged after he hid a ring in her powder box and they were married May 7, 1989, their first dance to Stryper’s song “Honestly.”
The couple set up home in Derry and Gregg would follow his dad’s footsteps working as a sales representative for Metropolitan Insurance Co. in Nashua.
“He was always upbeat and happy,” Smart said. “Gregg was very loving, compassionate and forgiving. I know he would not want me to be in prison.”
Dr. Eleanor Pam, Smart’s academic adviser and spokesperson, said they intend to file another sentence reduction request with the governor and executive council in the spring. Smart’s last petition, which included letters of support from “To Die For” author Joyce Maynard as well as numerous prisoners she has helped over the years, was rejected in 2019 without a hearing. They are also advocating for a bill in the New Hampshire Legislature that if approved would allow prisoners who are serving a life sentence to be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Gregg Smart’s father William died in 2010 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He had been vocal against any sentence reduction for Pamela Smart because she never admitted her role in the murder.
Pamela Smart said she just wants a chance to make her case.
If she ever does get paroled, she said she wants to care for her elderly parents and “shower them with love,” work for the United Nations and continue doing advocacy work.
“I don’t think it’s fair to hold me in prison when the person who actually killed my husband has been freed,” Smart said. “I have spent more of my life in prison than I have been free. When is enough, enough? I believe that justice should be tempered with mercy. I am not the same person I was 30 years ago. I hope no one is. We all need to be forgiven.”