Gregg Smart's Murder
At the time of the killing, Smart was 22 and working as a media coordinator at a New Hampshire high school. She had begun a sexual relationship with Flynn, a then-15-year-old student. On May 1, 1990, Gregg was shot inside the couple’s home in Derry, N.H. Flynn later admitted to being the person who pulled the trigger.
Prosecutors argued that Smart used her relationship with Flynn to persuade him and several of his teen friends to kill her 24-year-old husband. The prosecution’s case relied heavily on testimony from the teenagers, especially Flynn, along with secretly recorded conversations involving Smart.
Three students in addition to Flynn were involved: One provided the murder weapon and drove the getaway car following the murder, and a second waited outside in the car during the crime.
On the night of the murder, Flynn and a third teenager, Patrick “Pete” Randall, entered the Smart home and confronted Gregg. Flynn shot him in the head as Gregg pleaded for his life. The teens then attempted to make the killing look like a burglary. Prosecutors portrayed Smart as the driving force behind the plot and argued that she manipulated the teenagers into carrying it out.
Pamela Smart's Trial
Smart was arrested by Detective Daniel Pelletier in her school’s parking lot about three months after Gregg’s death. She was charged with accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to murder and witness tampering.
At her trial, where she pleaded not guilty, her defense offered a different version of events. Smart admitted that she had been involved in an inappropriate relationship with Flynn, but she denied arranging Gregg’s murder or knowing that Flynn intended to kill him. Her attorneys argued that Flynn had acted on his own and suggested that his actions may have been fueled by the ending of their relationship. They also rejected the idea that Smart had arranged the killing for financial gain.
The March 1991 trial quickly became a national media spectacle. The case had all the elements of a sensational crime story: a young woman accused of manipulating a young student, an extramarital relationship, a murdered husband and a group of teenagers accused of carrying out the killing. It was also the first major American criminal trials to receive extensive TV coverage from beginning to end.
Smart was convicted of being an accomplice to first-degree murder as well as conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The teenagers involved in the killing eventually received shorter sentences and were released, leaving Smart as the only person connected to the murder who remains behind bars.
Where Is Pamela Smart Now?
Smart has spent more than three decades challenging her conviction and seeking a reduction in her sentence. For years, she maintained that she had not participated in the murder plot, even as she acknowledged the inappropriate relationship with Flynn.
In 2024, Smart accepted responsibility for Gregg’s death and expressed remorse, saying that she spent years avoiding responsibility for her actions. Her statement marked a departure from her earlier insistence that she had not been involved in planning the murder.
Her attempts to shorten her sentence, however, have continued to face obstacles. In 2025, New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte rejected Smart’s request for a sentence-reduction hearing.
“Our courts presume the trial judge and the lawyers got it right,” Ryan P. Sullivan, a criminal defense attorney with Erkan & Sullivan, P.C., tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “Even when a clear mistake surfaces, persuading an appellate court or a motion judge to undo the result takes real work. A high-profile case [increases] the degree of difficulty.”
In January 2026, Smart’s attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition seeking a new trial, arguing in part that inaccurate transcripts of secretly recorded conversations between Smart and a teen intern were used as evidence during the original proceedings. Smart’s friend, 16-year-old intern Cecelia Pierce, had worn a wire during taped conversations with Smart. Smart’s attorneys claim that some of the words included in the transcripts from those conversations could not actually be heard on the recordings and that the disputed transcripts may have affected how jurors interpreted the evidence.
One of the words they claim could not be heard in the recording but was listed in the transcript was the word “killed” in the sentence “you had your husband killed;” another word was “busted” in the sentence “I’m going to be busted.” The state has argued that these alleged issues don’t provide sufficient grounds to overturn Smart’s conviction.
A New Hampshire judge held a hearing on Smart’s petition in July 2026—more than 30 years after Gregg was killed—and expected to make a decision within 30 days.
Still, Smart’s chances for shortening her sentence or getting a new trial remain slim.
“Smart’s direct appeals are over, leaving her with few options,” Randolph Rice, attorney at Rice Law, tells A&E Crime + Investigation. “Her main avenue is post-conviction relief, including her current habeas petition challenging the accuracy of trial transcripts and their potential impact on the jury. She could also pursue newly discovered evidence or ineffective-assistance claims, though both face steep procedural hurdles.” (An ineffective assistance claim is a legal argument raised by a convicted criminal defendant claiming that their defense lawyer performed so poorly that it violated their Sixth Amendment right to competent legal representation.)
Brendan Cox, Boston-based criminal defense attorney and former Assistant District Attorney in the Suffolk County division of the Massachusetts District Attorney’s office, says it’s “rare” for a high-profile defendant to obtain a new trial after an exhausting direct appeals: “The Adnan Syed case in Maryland, profiled in the Serial podcast, is one example of a successful request for resentencing. The Menendez brothers in California also successfully argued for resentencing, although they remain incarcerated.”
Smart remains behind bars at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York.
