Pamela Smart Breaks Silence, Accepts Role in 1990 Killing
Pamela Smart, who has long denied involvement in her husband’s murder, has now admitted responsibility after 34 years. Convicted in 1991 as an accomplice to first-degree murder and conspiracy, Smart was sentenced to life in prison. Her husband, Gregory Smart, was killed in 1990 by a 15-year-old with whom Pamela was having an affair. Despite the shooter’s release in 2015, Smart’s appeals for sentence reduction have been consistently denied, including her latest in 2022.
In a videotaped statement included in her latest petition for sentence reduction, Smart expressed her accountability for Gregory’s murder for the first time. The video, obtained by USA Today, features her saying, “I found myself responsible for something I desperately didn’t want to be responsible for – my husband’s murder.”
She continued, “I had to acknowledge for the first time in my own mind and my own heart how responsible I was, because I had deflected blame all the time, almost as if it was a coping mechanism.”
A Plea for dialogue
In her petition, Smart requested an “honest conversation” with New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and the state’s Executive Council about her incarceration and acceptance of responsibility. Her attorney, Mark Sisti, emphasized her readiness to take full responsibility, urging the governor and council to consider her transformation over the past 34 years.
Governor Sununu responded, stating, “New Hampshire’s process for commutation or pardon requests is fair and thorough. Pamela Smart will be given the same opportunity to petition the Council for a hearing as any other individual.”
