Where Is Pamela Smart Now? Inside Her Life in Prison, 36 Years After Her Husband’s Murder

Nearly four decades after the 1990 killing of her husband Gregg Smart, Pamela Smart remains incarcerated while continuing legal appeals and public reflections about her role in the crime.

Pamela Smart stands trial on charges of being an accomplice to first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder at the Rockingham Superior County Court on March 11, 1991 in Exeter, NH.Credit: Susanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty

The Crime and Investigation

On May 1, 1990, 24-year-old insurance agent Gregg Smart was found shot in the head at the Derry, New Hampshire, condominium he shared with his wife, Pamela. Investigators soon focused on Pamela Smart, then 22, a media coordinator at Winnacunnet Regional High School.

Pamela Smart enters the courtroom for the verdict in her trial at the Rockingham County Superior Court on March 22, 1991 in Exeter, N.H.Credit: Tom Landers/The Boston Globe via Getty

Police uncovered that Smart had been having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student, William “Billy” Flynn, whom she met through a school program. Flynn later admitted he was the triggerman and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. At trial he testified that he acted at Smart’s direction; Smart has always denied ordering the killing, though she has acknowledged moral responsibility for her conduct.

William Flynn testifies how he shot Gregory Smart in the head and killed him on March 13, 1991 in court in Exeter, NH.Credit: Jim Cole/AP

Trial, Conviction and Sentencing

In March 1991, a jury convicted Pamela Smart of conspiracy to commit murder, being an accomplice to first-degree murder, and witness tampering. Flynn and two other teenagers who participated in the plot — Patrick “Pete” Randall and Vance “J.R.” Lattime Jr. — pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and testified against Smart. Raymond Fowler, who remained in a car nearby during the killing, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and attempted burglary.

Pamela Smart during a press conference.Credit: Mark Wilson/The Boston Globe via Getty

Smart was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Flynn and Randall received sentences of life with the possibility of parole; Fowler and Lattime were released earlier. Flynn and Randall were later granted lifetime parole in 2015.

Pamela Smart in HBO's documentary 'Captivated: The Trials of Pamela Smart'.Credit: Courtesy of HBO

Smart’s Statements and Later Actions

In interviews from prison, Smart has expressed remorse for the illegal relationship with Flynn and, over time, has accepted moral responsibility for helping create the circumstances that led to Gregg’s death. In a 2014 PEOPLE interview she said, "It took me many years to see my own responsibility," and in a recorded 2021 appeal statement she apologized to the Smart family, saying, "I'm to blame."

“Even though I didn’t want my husband killed and didn’t pull the trigger, my bad behavior helped load the gun.” — Pamela Smart, 2014

Life Behind Bars

After her 1990 arrest, Smart was transferred in 1993 to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York, a maximum-security prison. During her incarceration she pursued education and spiritual work: she earned three master’s degrees and a doctorate in ministry, became an ordained minister, and tutored other inmates. Prison officials and reporting outlets such as PBS and PEOPLE have noted her educational achievements and involvement in prison programs.

Appeals and Recent Developments

Smart has pursued appeals and requests for sentence reductions for decades. In 2022 a New Hampshire council unanimously denied her bid for a sentence reduction, citing concerns that she had not fully acknowledged all crimes she committed as an accomplice and conspirator. In February 2026, a special titled IMPACT x Nightline: The Widow and the Wiretap discussed newly presented evidence, and Smart filed a new motion that same year seeking to overturn her conviction based on that material.

Legacy and Reactions

The case drew intense media attention at the time and remains controversial. Members of Gregg Smart’s family maintain that Pamela played a central role in the murder plot; other commentators and some legal observers have criticized the media coverage and its possible impact on the trial. Smart herself continues to argue she never ordered the killing while acknowledging her profound responsibility for the events that unfolded.

Where she is now: Pamela Smart remains incarcerated, her convictions intact, while legal efforts to challenge aspects of the case continue as of 2026.