BOSTON - Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for orchestrating the murder of her husband by a teenage student in 1990, is seeking to overturn her conviction over what her lawyers claim were several constitutional violations. The petition for habeas corpus relief was filed Monday in New York, where she is being held at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, and, in New Hampshire, where the murder occurred.
“Ms. Smart’s trial unfolded in an environment that no court had previously confronted — wall-to-wall media coverage that blurred the line between allegation and evidence,” Jason Ott, part of Smart’s legal team, stated. “This petition challenges whether a fair adversarial process took place.”
This legal maneuver follows a recent decision from New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte, who rejected a request for a sentence reduction hearing after reviewing the case.
A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision did not comment on the petition. Meanwhile, New Hampshire’s attorney general noted that the State maintains Smart received a fair trial, stating her convictions were lawfully upheld on appeal.
In the petition, Smart’s attorneys claim that prosecutors misled the jury with inaccurate transcripts of secretly recorded conversations. Words that were allegedly inaudible on the recordings, such as 'killed' and 'murder,' were included in the transcripts used in court.
“Modern science confirms that people, when handed a script, hear the words they’re shown,” Smart’s attorney, Matthew Zernhelt, argued, adding that jurors were influenced towards specific conclusions rather than evaluating the evidence independently.
Lawyers are contending that the conviction should be overturned due to the pervasive media attention influencing the verdict and jury instruction errors. They emphasized that jurors were not properly guided to consider only trial evidence.
Smart was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began a relationship with a 15-year-old who later killed her husband, Gregory Smart, in Derry. Although she denied participating in the plot, she was found guilty as an accomplice to first-degree murder. Her co-defendants, who were also teenagers, served their sentences and have been released.
The case garnered significant media attention and has had lasting implications on public perception, inspiring the book 'To Die For' and its subsequent film adaptation starring Nicole Kidman. As of 2024, Smart has publicly acknowledged her responsibility for her husband's death, stating that for years she deflected blame as a coping mechanism.
“Ms. Smart’s trial unfolded in an environment that no court had previously confronted — wall-to-wall media coverage that blurred the line between allegation and evidence,” Jason Ott, part of Smart’s legal team, stated. “This petition challenges whether a fair adversarial process took place.”
This legal maneuver follows a recent decision from New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte, who rejected a request for a sentence reduction hearing after reviewing the case.
A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision did not comment on the petition. Meanwhile, New Hampshire’s attorney general noted that the State maintains Smart received a fair trial, stating her convictions were lawfully upheld on appeal.
In the petition, Smart’s attorneys claim that prosecutors misled the jury with inaccurate transcripts of secretly recorded conversations. Words that were allegedly inaudible on the recordings, such as 'killed' and 'murder,' were included in the transcripts used in court.
“Modern science confirms that people, when handed a script, hear the words they’re shown,” Smart’s attorney, Matthew Zernhelt, argued, adding that jurors were influenced towards specific conclusions rather than evaluating the evidence independently.
Lawyers are contending that the conviction should be overturned due to the pervasive media attention influencing the verdict and jury instruction errors. They emphasized that jurors were not properly guided to consider only trial evidence.
Smart was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she began a relationship with a 15-year-old who later killed her husband, Gregory Smart, in Derry. Although she denied participating in the plot, she was found guilty as an accomplice to first-degree murder. Her co-defendants, who were also teenagers, served their sentences and have been released.
The case garnered significant media attention and has had lasting implications on public perception, inspiring the book 'To Die For' and its subsequent film adaptation starring Nicole Kidman. As of 2024, Smart has publicly acknowledged her responsibility for her husband's death, stating that for years she deflected blame as a coping mechanism.
