Pamela Smart said she was “for the first time” accepting responsibility for her husband’s murder after decades of using “warped logic” to shift the blame.
“I realized I was responsible for something I never wanted to be responsible for – the murder of my husband,” Smart said in a video message from prison obtained by Fox News Digital.
The revelation came during a prison writing class, where the instructor urged students to “dig deeper into your own mind, your own heart.”
Smart, 56, has been in prison for nearly 34 years, serving a life sentence for his role in the 1990 murder of Gregory Smart, a murder carried out by four teenagers led by a boy with whom Smart had an affair.
The last time Pamela Smart sought pardon
In this 1991 file photo, Pamela Smart testifies in Rockingham County Superior Court in Exeter, New Hampshire. (Associated Press)
In May 1990, Billy Flynn, then 16, shot Gregory Smart in the head while Patrick Randall, then 17, held a knife to Flynn’s throat.
Pamela Smart, who was 22 years old at the time and taught in Flynn’s program at her high school in Hampton, New Hampshire, was secretly dating Flynn.
During the trial, Flynn testified that Pamela had threatened to leave him if he did not kill her husband.
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Flynn, Randall and two other teenagers who were getaway drivers at the time served their sentences and have since been released.
“It has taken me decades to better understand and accept responsibility for my unforgivable actions and behavior,” she wrote in a letter to New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu in March asking for a pardon.
In her recent clemency petition, Pamela Smart admitted responsibility for her husband’s murder. (AP Photo/John Pierre Rassein, File)
In her letter, she said she lied to herself, rationalizing that “I wasn’t there the night Greg was killed, I didn’t pull the trigger, and therefore I’m not responsible.”
“I became accustomed to my own warped logic because I didn’t want to face the fact that Greg’s murder was no one’s fault but mine,” Pamela wrote.
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In a recorded statement at New York’s Bedford Hills Correctional Facility where she is serving her sentence, she said she used this “warped” rationalization as a “coping mechanism.” Because the fact of taking on that responsibility was very difficult for me.”
Val Fryatt, Greg’s cousin, was in disbelief at the long silences and Pamela’s emotions in the four-and-a-half-minute video. Associated Press She “evaded the facts by refusing to acknowledge that she was ‘fully responsible.'”
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In this March 9, 1991 file photo, 17-year-old Patrick Randall testifies in Lockham County Superior Court in Exeter, N.H. Randall held a knife to Gregory Smart’s throat before Billy Flynn, Pamela Smart’s teenage boyfriend, shot him in the head in May 1990. Flynn was eventually paroled, but Smart was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and is serving a life sentence. (Associated Press)
The video is part of an 83-page petition dated June 7 that includes a long list of academic achievements, work history and about 30 letters of support from fellow inmates, corrections officers, religious leaders and friends.
Brooklyn Nets CFO Peter Stern also wrote a letter on her behalf.
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This is the fourth time that Pamela has asked the New Hampshire Governor and the State Executive Council for clemency.
“I don’t want to die in prison,” she wrote.
The most recent attempt was in March 2022, when she was denied the right to present her case “within minutes,” her lawyer, Mark Sisti, said.
View the full videotaped prison statement
In her motion, Sisti wrote that the plea “demonstrates overwhelming evidence” of “rehabilitation, remorse, self-improvement and a genuine commitment to atonement,” and that “she has demonstrated maturity beyond her years and has come to recognize her role in the murder of her husband.”
Governor Sisti told Fox News Digital that the decision to consider Pamela’s petition is entirely up to the Governor’s Executive Council.
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Pamela Smart is sworn in before testifying in her own defense in Rockingham County Court. (Getty Images)
The governor said in an email to Fox News Digital that his petition will not be on the agenda for today’s meeting. The executive committee’s next meeting is scheduled for June 26.
It is not yet clear whether her request will be considered, as the governor has not made his position clear.
“New Hampshire’s process for applying for commutation or pardon is fair and thorough, and Pamela Smart will be given the same opportunity as any individual to petition the Legislature for a hearing,” Gov. Sununu said in an emailed statement to Fox News Digital.
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Read the full petition
In a videotaped statement, she said she could recall mistakes she made decades ago, including failing to take responsibility for her actions.
“Now that I’m an adult and can look back, I can see a lot of the mistakes I made and how biased and immature my judgment was,” Pamela said in the video.
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“I am a completely different person. I am more thoughtful, I think things through before I make decisions, I act less impulsively, and I am more responsible and mature.”
Pamela was transferred to Bedford Hills Women’s Correctional Facility from New Hampshire after being convicted in 1991 and is believed to be the prison’s longest serving female inmate.
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“I respectfully request an opportunity to stand before you, the New Hampshire Executive Committee, to honestly discuss my incarceration, my acceptance of responsibility, and the concerns and questions you may have,” she said at the end of her recorded statement.
“I would be extremely grateful if we could meet in person or via video conference and have an honest conversation.”
