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Pamela Ann Smart (born August 16, 1967) is serving a life sentence for accomplice to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering in New Hampshire. Smart was convicted for conspiring with her 15-year-old lover, William Flynn, and his three friends to kill her 24-year-old husband, Gregory Smart in Derry, New Hampshire.

Early life

Pamela Ann Wojas was born in Coral Gables, Florida in southwestern Miami. She is the second of three children, with a sister six years older and a brother three years younger. Pamela was close to her mother and had a horrible relationship with her father. Her father worked as a commercial airline pilot and her mother as a stenographer.

When she was a child the Wojas family moved to New Hampshire. Smart went to high school at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, where she was a cheerleader, cheering for both basketball and football teams. Pamela liked to maintain control of herself and of her surroundings. She compulsively organized her clothing in color-coordinated groupings, even neatly folding her dirty laundry into separate hampers for darks and whites. She also organized her life that way, becoming upset when her tight schedule was disrupted. After high school she went to college at Florida State University and graduated with honors with a communications degree in 1988 in a little more than three years, with an accomplished 3.85 grade point average. During her college radio days, Pamela combined her passion for heavy metal music with her career aspirations. She hosted a one-night-a-week radio show at Florida State University that she called “Metal Madness'', using the alias ''Maiden of Metal''.

Pamela Wojas met Gregory Smart at a 1987 New Year's Day party. They formed a serious relationship by February 1987, and married two years later. They both shared a passion for heavy metal music. Greg bought Pam a Shih Tzu and she named it ''Halen'' after her favorite rock band Van Halen. Seven months into the Smart's marriage, they began having serious problems in their relationship. As they neared their first wedding anniversary Gregory Smart admitted he was having an affair. From then on, however, every time they got into an argument, Pam brought up the affair. A couple months into her marriage she took a job as a media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire. Smart met one of her students Billy Flynn at ''Project Self-Esteem'' a local drug awareness program at the school, in which Smart and Flynn were both volunteers. All freshmen were expected to participate in the program. She was able to impress them with her interest in heavy metal music. Smart was also employed as a media services coordinator with the Hampton school board, and Flynn was a sophomore. She had also met another intern named Cecilia Pierce who was friends with Billy Flynn. Flynn was always going out of his way to be helpful during the sessions and also visited Pam every day in her office.

Murder charges

On May 1, 1990, Smart claims she came home from a work meeting to find her condominium ransacked and her husband executed. Murders were rare in Derry, New Hampshire, a quiet and peaceful town. In fact, this was the only homicide investigation in Derry that year. Burglaries, too, were relatively rare. On the surface, officials say, the crime scene looked like a bungled burglary. Later, Smart was accused of seducing 15-year-old William ''Billy'' Flynn and threatening to leave him unless he killed her husband. Flynn did so with the help of friends Patrick ''Pete'' Randall, Vance ''J.R.'' Lattime Jr., and Raymond Fowler on May 1, 1990. Flynn shot Gregory Smart as Randall held him down, while Lattime, the driver, waited in the getaway car outside with Fowler. This was largely as a result of the testimony of her conspirators and secretly-taped conversations in which Smart appeared to contradict her claims of having wanted to reconcile with her husband and of having no knowledge of the boys' plot. Smart argued that the media had influenced her trial and conviction. She could have been charged with capital murder, but the prosecution decided against it. Later that day she was given a mandatory sentence to life in prison without the possibility for parole. The trial of Pamela Smart was the first fully televised case in the United States watched by millions of people on live television.

Imprisonment

Smart is incarcerated at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York State, where she is serving a life sentence and her DIN number is #93G0356. Not only is she the only person in New York incarcerated under the compact, but she is also the only one serving a sentence of life without parole.date=December 2008 Smart was transferred to Bedford Hills, a maximum security facility, from the New Hampshire State Prison for Women in Goffstown, New Hampshire in 1993. State officials stated that she was transferred because New Hampshire did not have a secure enough facility to house her, the higher security necessary due to the high-profile nature of her case. Although she has not admitted responsibility for her crimes, Smart has conceded that if she had not had an affair with Flynn, (her husband) Gregg would still be alive.

In prison, Smart has spent her time tutoring other inmates and has completed two masters degrees, in literature and legal studies, which were paid for with private funds from Mercy College. Smart became a member of the National Organization for Women campaigning for rights for women in prison.

In October 1996, Smart was severely beaten by inmates Mona Graves and Ghania Miller, resulting in a metal plate being placed in the left side of her face. The two inmates beat her after accusing her of snitching on them about their prison relationship. Convicted of second-degree assault in an attack at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the two inmates were transferred to separate prisons. In 2003, pictures of Smart scantily clad were published in the ''National Enquirer'' and she was subsequently placed in solitary confinement. Smart later sued, claiming the punishment amounted to unfair treatment. Her lawsuit was dismissed. In 2004, Smart and fellow inmate Carolyn Warmus sued officials of Bedford Hills, claiming sexual harassment, and also sexual assault by a guard, who she also claimed coerced her into posing for the suggestive pictures published of her in 2003.

Pamela Smart is allowed among other items a radio, a typewriter and 25 books in her jail cell. In her spare time, she says that she likes to read books and watch television with the other inmates, including ''Prison Break'', which is a popular show among the other inmates. She and other inmates like to prepare food, but she claims that she only has one meal a day because she has such a small appetite. Ever since she was severely beaten, she takes medication for chronic pain and sometimes thinks of suicide. Pamela's counselor, Dr. Eleanor Pam, says that ''she has many, many, many dark days.'' Smart says she still keeps track of Flynn because she regards him as being the key to her freedom. ''He is one of the few people that could actually get me out of here, by coming forward and telling the truth, but he's never gonna do that,'' said Smart.

Albert Johnson, Smart's attorney from Boston, Massachusetts, is nationally known for his high-profile clients, such as Patty Hearst and F. Lee Bailey. In April 2004, the First U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a 2002 ruling by a federal judge who rejected her federal habeas petition. Previous to her federal appeal, Smart had exhausted all judicial appeals at the state level. In July 2005, the New Hampshire Executive Council unanimously denied a pardon request for ''any conditions the governor may seek to impose.''

Smart is seeking a financial settlement from the state of New York. The New York attorney general's office is considering a settlement of Smart's 2006 lawsuit that accused prison officials of unfair treatment after scantily clad photos of her in a jail cell appeared in a 2003 issue of the National Enquirer. Smart claimed the pictures were taken by one of the prison guards who allegedly sexually assaulted her. According to court documents, Assistant Attorney General Maria Barous Hartofilis asked federal court Judge Robert Sweet for a two-month delay while the state considers the settlement offer for Smart that includes legal fees. The offer was made by Smart's attorney Nicholas Brook. In the lawsuit, Smart claims that after the photos appeared in the tabloid, she was forced to spend two months in a 23-hour-a-day lockdown after filing the complaint. Smart also spends her time pondering the loss of a life outside of prison and still maintains hope of having children.

Aftermath

William Flynn and Patrick Randall are serving their sentences at the Maine State Prison in Warren, Maine. Raymond Fowler was paroled in 2003,, sent back to prison for violating his parole terms in 2004, and paroled again in June 2005. Vance Lattime had his 30 year sentence reduced by 12 years. In 2005 his sentence was reduced by three years and he was paroled. Cecelia Pierce, who was one of Pamela Smart's interns at the time, signed for a $100,000 option for the screen rights to her story.

Recent events

In an interview by ABC News, Smart indicated she is afraid of growing old and dying in prison and would rather have had the death penalty than life.

William Flynn is incarcerated at the Maine State Prison in Warren, where he earned his GED, has been active in charity work and worked as an electrician at the prison. In 2007, Flynn sought a sentence reduction after serving 16 years, stating that he had vowed not to do so until he had spent as many years behind bars as he had spent free. He also apologized to Gregg Smart's family for murdering him. The Smart family opposed the request. On February 12, 2008, the request was denied, although Flynn's parole eligibility date was reduced by three years to 25 years, making him eligible for parole in 2015. In March 2009 a judge cut Patrick Randall's minimum sentence by three years, making him eligible for release in June 2015 and was originally eligible for parole in 2018.

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