Pamela Smart claims jurors were misled in case over teen lover's killing of husband, argues for new trial
Pamela Smart, whose conviction for manipulating her teenage lover into killing her husband became one of America's most notorious murder cases, has asked a New Hampshire judge to let her latest bid for a new trial move forward.Smart was 22 and working as a high school media coordinator in 1990 when prosecutors said she became involved in a sexual relationship with 15-year-old William Flynn and convinced him to kill her husband, Gregory Smart.She was convicted the following year of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and has been serving life without parole ever since.PAMELA SMART, CONVICTED OF PLOTTING WITH TEEN LOVER TO KILL HUSBAND, HAS NEW HAMPSHIRE COURT PETITION DENIEDMerrimack County Superior Court Judge James Kennedy heard arguments Monday on Smart's petition for habeas corpus relief before taking the matter under advisement. Kennedy said he expects to issue a written ruling within 30 to 60 days.Smart, now 58, filed the petition in January seeking to overturn her conviction, arguing prosecutors misled jurors by providing transcripts of secretly recorded conversations that included words her attorneys say cannot actually be heard on the recordings.Among the disputed words are "killed" in the phrase "you had your husband killed," "busted" in the phrase "I'm gonna be busted," and "murder" in the phrase "this would have been the perfect murder."IDAHO MURDERS: NEW BOOK ON KOHBERGER REVEALS PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN EVIDENCE, CLAIMS SHEATH COULD BE INADMISSIBLEEarlier this year, Smart's attorney, Matthew Zernhelt, said the new research shows "modern science confirms what common sense has always told us: when people are handed a script, they inevitably hear the words they are shown." He argued jurors "were not evaluating the recordings independently – they were being directed toward a conclusion, and that direction decided the verdict."During Monday's hearing, Zernhelt argued the petition clears the low bar required to survive a motion to dismiss, saying the court's role at this stage is simply to determine whether it alleges sufficient facts to warrant an evidentiary hearing.Pointing to new forensic research, Zernhelt argued written transcripts can influence how jurors interpret difficult-to-hear recordings.ALEX MURDAUGH TRIAL CLERK REEMERGES AFTER EXPLOSIVE RULING UPENDS MURDER CONVICTIONZernhelt also pointed to recordings a juror made after each day of trial, arguing they show the juror relied on the written transcripts to understand the recordings and ultimately voted to convict Smart.Assistant Attorney General John Drennan urged Kennedy to dismiss the petition, arguing Smart is attempting to relitigate issues that have already been decided by appellate courts over the past three decades.Prosecutors argued nearly all of Smart's claims either were raised and rejected on direct appeal by the New Hampshire Supreme Court or could have been raised years ago but were not.Prosecutors also noted that during Smart's trial, the defense challenged the transcripts only over the alleged "doubling" of voices when two people spoke at once – not over the specific inaccuracies now being alleged.Jurors also were instructed that if the transcripts differed from the recordings, they should rely on what they heard.
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Pamela Smart, whose conviction for manipulating her teenage lover into killing her husband became one of America's most notorious murder cases, has asked a New Hampshire judge to let her latest bid for a new trial move forward.Smart was 22 and working as a high school media coordinator in 1990 when prosecutors said she became involved in a sexual relationship with 15-year-old William Flynn and convinced him to kill her husband, Gregory Smart.She was convicted the following year of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and has been serving life without parole ever since.PAMELA SMART, CONVICTED OF PLOTTING WITH TEEN LOVER TO KILL HUSBAND, HAS NEW HAMPSHIRE COURT PETITION DENIEDMerrimack County Superior Court Judge James Kennedy heard arguments Monday on Smart's petition for habeas corpus relief before taking the matter under advisement. Kennedy said he expects to issue a written ruling within 30 to 60 days.Smart, now 58, filed the petition in January seeking to overturn her conviction, arguing prosecutors misled jurors by providing transcripts of secretly recorded conversations that included words her attorneys say cannot actually be heard on the recordings.Among the disputed words are "killed" in the phrase "you had your husband killed," "busted" in the phrase "I'm gonna be busted," and "murder" in the phrase "this would have been the perfect murder."IDAHO MURDERS: NEW BOOK ON KOHBERGER REVEALS PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN EVIDENCE, CLAIMS SHEATH COULD BE INADMISSIBLEEarlier this year, Smart's attorney, Matthew Zernhelt, said the new research shows "modern science confirms what common sense has always told us: when people are handed a script, they inevitably hear the words they are shown." He argued jurors "were not evaluating the recordings independently – they were being directed toward a conclusion, and that direction decided the verdict."During Monday's hearing, Zernhelt argued the petition clears the low bar required to survive a motion to dismiss, saying the court's role at this stage is simply to determine whether it alleges sufficient facts to warrant an evidentiary hearing.Pointing to new forensic research, Zernhelt argued written transcripts can influence how jurors interpret difficult-to-hear recordings.ALEX MURDAUGH TRIAL CLERK REEMERGES AFTER EXPLOSIVE RULING UPENDS MURDER CONVICTIONZernhelt also pointed to recordings a juror made after each day of trial, arguing they show the juror relied on the written transcripts to understand the recordings and ultimately voted to convict Smart.Assistant Attorney General John Drennan urged Kennedy to dismiss the petition, arguing Smart is attempting to relitigate issues that have already been decided by appellate courts over the past three decades.Prosecutors argued nearly all of Smart's claims either were raised and rejected on direct appeal by the New Hampshire Supreme Court or could have been raised years ago but were not.Prosecutors also noted that during Smart's trial, the defense challenged the transcripts only over the alleged "doubling" of voices when two people spoke at once – not over the specific inaccuracies now being alleged.Jurors also were instructed that if the transcripts differed from the recordings, they should rely on what they heard. The New Hampshire Supreme Court later found Smart's attorneys failed to make a "particularized showing of inaccuracies in the transcripts relative to the recordings or how she may have been prejudiced" by them.Drennan challenged the scientific study cited by Smart's attorneys, arguing the court has not received sufficient information about its methodology and that it does not demonstrate actual prejudice to the jury. He also noted jurors were instructed that the recordings – not the accompanying transcripts – constituted the evidence.FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X"Maybe cognitive bias has set in," Drennan argued, comparing the issue to reading an automated voicemail transcript before listening to the recording itself.
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- Pamela Smart, whose conviction for manipulating her teenage lover into killing her husband became one of America's most notorious murder cases, has asked a New Hampshire judge to let her latest bid for a new trial move forward.Smart was 22 and working as a high school media coordinator in 1990 when prosecutors said she became involved in a sexual relationship with 15-year-old William Flynn and convinced him to kill her husband, Gregory Smart.She was convicted the following year of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and has been serving life without parole ever since.PAMELA SMART, CONVICTED OF PLOTTING WITH TEEN LOVER TO KILL HUSBAND, HAS NEW HAMPSHIRE COURT PETITION DENIEDMerrimack County Superior Court Judge James Kennedy heard arguments Monday on Smart's petition for habeas corpus relief before taking the matter under advisement. Kennedy said he expects to issue a written ruling within 30 to 60 days.Smart, now 58, filed the petition in January seeking to overturn her conviction, arguing prosecutors misled jurors by providing transcripts of secretly recorded conversations that included words her attorneys say cannot actually be heard on the recordings.Among the disputed words are "killed" in the phrase "you had your husband killed," "busted" in the phrase "I'm gonna be busted," and "murder" in the phrase "this would have been the perfect murder."IDAHO MURDERS: NEW BOOK ON KOHBERGER REVEALS PREVIOUSLY UNSEEN EVIDENCE, CLAIMS SHEATH COULD BE INADMISSIBLEEarlier this year, Smart's attorney, Matthew Zernhelt, said the new research shows "modern science confirms what common sense has always told us: when people are handed a script, they inevitably hear the words they are shown." He argued jurors "were not evaluating the recordings independently – they were being directed toward a conclusion, and that direction decided the verdict."During Monday's hearing, Zernhelt argued the petition clears the low bar required to survive a motion to dismiss, saying the court's role at this stage is simply to determine whether it alleges sufficient facts to warrant an evidentiary hearing.Pointing to new forensic research, Zernhelt argued written transcripts can influence how jurors interpret difficult-to-hear recordings.ALEX MURDAUGH TRIAL CLERK REEMERGES AFTER EXPLOSIVE RULING UPENDS MURDER CONVICTIONZernhelt also pointed to recordings a juror made after each day of trial, arguing they show the juror relied on the written transcripts to understand the recordings and ultimately voted to convict Smart.Assistant Attorney General John Drennan urged Kennedy to dismiss the petition, arguing Smart is attempting to relitigate issues that have already been decided by appellate courts over the past three decades.Prosecutors argued nearly all of Smart's claims either were raised and rejected on direct appeal by the New Hampshire Supreme Court or could have been raised years ago but were not.Prosecutors also noted that during Smart's trial, the defense challenged the transcripts only over the alleged "doubling" of voices when two people spoke at once – not over the specific inaccuracies now being alleged.Jurors also were instructed that if the transcripts differed from the recordings, they should rely on what they heard.
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Pamela Smart claims jurors were misled in case over teen lover's killing of husband, argues for new trial
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