PAMELA Smart accepted responsibility for planning her husband’s murder 34 years later in the hope it would shorten her life sentence.
In 1991, Smart was convicted of having her 16-year-old lover, William ‘Billy’ Flynn, and three of her classmates kill her husband Gregg in 1990, days before their one-year anniversary.
After 34 years in prison for the crime, Smart decided to take full responsibility for his part in the murder.
“I found myself responsible for something I desperately didn’t want to be responsible for – the murder of my husband,” Smart said in a videotaped statement obtained by USA today.
“Today I take responsibility for the murder of my husband Gregg.
“I am to blame for your absence from this world.”
She included the statement with another written petition to have her life sentence reduced.
Smart asked New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and the state’s Executive Council to have an “honest conversation with you about my incarceration, my acceptance of responsibility, and any concerns you may have,” either in person or during a video conference.
This wasn’t the first time she asked for a shorter sentence.
In 2022, it was rejected by the Executive Council and the New Hampshire Supreme Court, USA today reported.
If her latest request is granted by the board and the state of New Hampshire, she could petition a parole board for her release.
Smart’s attorney, Mark Sisti, said she had a “wonderful turnaround.”
“Pam is ready, willing and able to take full responsibility for the murder of her husband Gregg,” he told USA Today.
“We think there has been a wonderful turnaround. We think the governor and council should take note of this and deal with it individually.”
WHAT HAS CHANGED?
The now 56-year-old was found guilty of being an accessory to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering in the murder of her husband Gregg.
She shared how she spent most of her adult life in prison and feels like she is a changed person.
The murder of Gregg Smart
In 1990, Gregg Smart was shot in the head by his wife, Pamela’s lover, 16-year-old William ‘Billy’ Flynn.
Pamela worked at a high school in Hampton, New Hampshire, where she met Flynn.
She managed to convince the underage boy and three of his friends to help murder her husband.
On May 1, 1990, Flynn and his friends drove to the condominium where the Smarts lived.
Flynn shot Gregg in the head at close range, while one of his friends held a knife to Gregg’s neck.
During the trial, prosecutors argued that Smart had a sexual relationship with Flynn and coerced him into committing the crime.
They also said Smart made them steal jewelry and destroy the house to make it look like a robbery.
Pamela was found guilty of being an accessory to first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering.
She is serving a life sentence for her crime, but recently filed a new petition to have it shortened.
“I’m a very different person than I was and a more caring person than I was before,” she explained.
“Thirty-four years is a long time, and during that time I did a lot of work on myself and a lot of spiritual work.”
She also explained in her written petition how the life sentence has made her feel over the past 30 years, mentioning that she is the only one of the four people still in prison.
“I don’t want to die in prison,” Smart wrote in the petition.
“I have been in prison almost my entire adult life and facing a future without any hope of release is crushing my spirit to the point where it is a struggle to stay alive every day.”
While in prison, Smart tried to improve himself, graduating from college and becoming an ordained minister, according to the outlet.
Since his last plea in 2022, Smart has finally reached the “correct conclusion” about his role in the murder, Sisti said.
“She has been running away from this for more than three decades,” he added.
Smart said he needed to accept what he saw as a “coping mechanism.”
“I had to acknowledge for the first time in my mind and in my heart how responsible I was, because I had been deflecting blame all along, almost as if it was a coping mechanism, because the truth of being so responsible was very difficult for me to handle. me. “Smart said in the video posted by Fox News.
Smart’s trial was the first murder trial in America to be broadcast on television and aroused extreme interest.
The 1995 film To Die For was inspired by Smart’s story and horrific crime.
Nicole Kidman plays a naive and aspiring television personality.
The character then seduces a teenager she is making a documentary about, played by Joaquin Phoenix, to murder her husband.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story