PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org: Pam Smart's Appeal Dismissed by NH Supreme Court
To the surprise of no one:
CONCORD - After exhausting all other appeal chances, a bid by Pam Smart to compel the Governor and Executive Council to reconsider giving her a commutation hearing failed with the state Supreme Court Wednesday.
Smart's petition was unanimously dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
The full decision is 2022-0198, Petition of Pamela Smart
Concord Monitor: Attorney Mark Sisti continues in his quest to reduce Pam Smart's sentence, this time before the N.H. Supreme Court.
The path in the URL is "This-time-the-NH-Supreme-Court-tells-Pam-Smart-the-bad-news-49925132." I think it's safe to assume that whoever prepares web pages at the Monitor is a bit biased. Yeah, I suspect the court will return the bad news. We'll have to wait a month or two:
Mark Sisti senses that the public and state officials roll their eyes each time the Chichester attorney seeks a hearing before the Executive Council to show why Pam Smart's life-without-parole sentence should be reduced.
Sisti went to bat for Smart again on Tuesday, this time in front of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, the first time he's stated his case before the state's highest court. Sisti has failed in his other three attempts - the most recent was last year - to persuade the Executive Council to grant Smart a hearing, hoping for a shorter sentence. She's one step away from that.
Portsmouth Herald: 'Pain and suffering I caused are irreparable': Pamela Smart seeks new bid for clemency
WMUR: Pamela Smart files new request to have life sentence commuted
The latest try has arrived. Excerpts from the Portsmouth Herald article:
"It took years, even decades, for me to accept responsibility and I must carry that burden, alone and deservedly, for the rest of my life recognizing that the pain and suffering I caused are irreparable," Smart wrote in a letter to the governor and Executive Council apologizing to Gregg Smart's family, her family and "all who were directly or indirectly impacted by my actions and misjudgment."
"This burden is something I can never - and should never - be free of, because my actions have forever changed the course of many lives, including my own."
"We are hopeful this time that she gets a hearing and that we can make her case," said Dr. Eleanor Pam, who served as Smart's academic adviser and later became her advocate and spokesperson. "She certainly deserves a hearing and for my money, she deserves much more than that. She deserves to be released."
Eleanor Pam said the petition is not about "relitigating the case."
"We are looking for executive grace," Pam said. "Clemency is supposed to be about whether the person is rehabilitated and what their contributions to society and in the prison have been. If you look at the petition you can see that Pame's progress and achievements have been more than remarkable."
Will she get a hearing? I don't know, but this looks like a much better chance than any before. The Attorney General's office is reviewing the request, and if they accept it, it will go on to the Executive Council.
This must be biggest exposure Pame has gotten in the last 25 years, two hours of time on ABC's 20/20. All in all, I think it was done pretty well, I suspect her supporters will find much to cringe at in the first hour plus, but the discussion toward the end about her long sentence compared to other murder cases makes some good points.
I assume this announcement is timed to draw attention to the 20/20 special above. The important part is:
Not right away [for the petition], as she presented her case last year, and there's a two year waiting period before she can try again.
"She will be asking for a hearing, not seeking to challenge or overturn the verdict, only for re-evaluation of the sentence and the opportunity for parole at some time in the future," [spokesperson Eleanor Pam] said in a statement.
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The November 2016 issue of NH Magazine devotes the cover and four articles to the Pamela Smart case. In addition to the main article, there are also: |
One victim in the case was Vance Lattime Jr's father, Vance Sr. He owned the revolver that his son stole and brought into the murder plot. All these years it's been sitting in an evidence room and Vance Sr started trying to get it back in 2011. The state wants to keep it in case some of Pam's legal manuvering results in a retrial.
I assume Vance Jr can't buy a replacement for Dad, but he might be able to give his Dad money to buy a replacement.
No, not innocent of murder, but innocent of "weapons possession and contraband charges" for a "non-serrated cake instrument" that she had for 17 years - for cutting cake.
"She says she had to serve 90 days in solitary as a result, and the disciplinary action is hurting her hopes of getting a pardon or her sentence commuted from New Hampshire's governor."
A few days before a parole hearing for Patrick Randall, Pamela Smart's spokesperson Eleanor Pam claimed "We believe that Pete Randall, who Pamela Smart had never met and therefore could not have manipulated, was the actual shooter."
The article says:
Pam said their claim that Randall is the shooter is based on forensic gun evidence. "Forensic testimony ruled out a left-handed shooter. Flynn was left handed. We believe they switched their story to create a more sympathetic narrative and motive for the crime," Pam said. A report published in 2006 by journalism students at Keene State College, who spent over a year investigating the case, mentioned a ballistics report showing the gun was fired by a right-handed person.The assertion had no effect on the result of the hearing. Randall was granted parole on April 10th, with a June release date.
In a harsh response to Flynn's parole, supporter and advocate Eleanor Pam, released this statement:
Once again, Bill Flynn has cynically used a winning strategy to get himself a better deal. He paints himself as Pamela Smart's victim and blames her for acts he himself committed. Successfully playing the innocent virgin, he weeps into his tissues every chance he gets.
Teenager Flynn was a murderer, a liar and a thief. He was well known to the police and an experienced criminal. He was never Smart's victim but she has certainly been his. For two and a half decades she has been paying for his crimes while and and his gangster co-conspirators have reaped the benefits of their perjurious testimony.
The New Hampshire parole board has today decided to send this self-confessed killer home to his wife while Pamela Smart continues to serve the sentence that should be his - one that ends in 99/99/9999.
As expected, a short parole hearing granted William Flynn parole with a release date no earlier than June.
Flynn spoke on Thursday to the parole board via phone from Maine, where he is part of a work release program.
"I will always feel terrible about what happened 25 years ago," he said. "Nothing I can say will be of comfort, but I hope this will be the last time (Gregg Smart's family) will be publicly reminded of their grief."
Flynn's accomplishments in prison contributed to the decision, Sytek said. While behind bars, Flynn has earned a college degree, become a journeyman electrician and gotten married. He's also demonstrated he's been able to function in the community during his time in the work release program, she said.
"I have not seen such accomplishments (by inmates)," Sytek said.
Val Fryatt, Gregg's cousin, said she wanted Flynn to fulfill his entire 28-year sentence. There were too many "should have beens," she said.
On Thursday, Flynn will have a parole hearing in Concord (he'll "attend" by speaker phone from Maine). Gregg Smart's family has generally been supportive of his parole after age 40 (Thursday is also Flynn's 41st birthday). In this Boston Herald article, brother Rick Smart says "I think he did his time. He was at a young age. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying he shouldn't have been punished, but I want to put this behind me and I'm sure he wants to put it behind him."
The hearing is getting international attention. The Herald article also ran in the British tabloid Daily Mail.
This short article in People magazine reports that the documentary CAPTIVATED: The Trials of Pamela Smart (see below) will be aired on HBO August 18th.
This reports that William (Billy) Flynn, the person who shot Gregg Smart, has been granted work release. He had been moved to Bolduc Correctional Facility, a minimum-security facility, in Warren, Maine in July 2013.
Also, Patrick Randall has been moved to a transitional work center next to the NH State Prison, a step toward gaining work release.
Both men have had their sentences reduced from 28 years to 25 for being model prisoners, and now become eligible for parole next June 4th.
This is the better of the first two reviews Google sent my way. I don't know anything beyond what's in the review, but apparently Jeremiah Zagar focused on the circus aspects of the trial and excessive sentences.
Zagar stops just short of arguing for Smart's innocence, but he pokes enough holes in our perception of the facts that in a show of hands at the post-screening Q&A, half the audience who'd assumed she was guilty said they'd changed their minds. Yet when a woman stood up and said she'd like to start a letter-writing campaign to free Smart, only a handful of people applauded in support.
Chris Bradley, a 37-year-old company actor at Seacoast Repertory Theatre was once a pen pal with Pame Smart and will be making a film based on letters they exchanged starting in 1992 when Bradley was a 14-year-old eighth-grader in Newburyport, Mass. His initial reasons for writing were mixed, he said, starting with the fact he was a lonely, lost boy.
"At the time (the murder) was a featured scandal and everyone was so against her. A friend and I decided to be contrary," he said, adding neither understood the gravity of the situation. "We decided to support her."
At 14, he believed Smart was innocent. He wrote her a letter of support. Smart responded kindly and the pen pal friendship began and continued through Bradley's senior year.
The film will consist of Bradley explaining the situation and reading letters, "and it will be really funny," producer Rae Dawn Chong said.
"Not to make fun of Chris or Pame, it's the insanity of it," she said. "She's serving a life sentence and she's giving sex and love advice to this 14-year-old gay boy!"
The film project launched the "Pame" Kickstarter campaign last week for $2,000, but is shooting for $15,000 or more. The participants hope to film at the Rep in the spring.
Pamela Smart, one of the world's most infamous inmates, is being urged by a group of supporters to petition the new governor of New Hampshire for a chance at parole, said Eleanor Pam, a self-described "strong advocate" for Smart.
"Those who are her supporters, including and especially me, are eager for her to appeal to the new governor through the New Hampshire Executive Council," Pam said. "We are hopeful, and do believe, that the governor will be open to reviewing the facts of the case fairly and that Pamela will finally receive relief from endless, cruel and pointless suffering behind bars for an act she did not commit."
But according to a spokesman for New Hampshire's newly elected Gov. Maggie Hassan, any request from Smart for a pardon is a long shot.
Contacted by WMUR, Dean Smart said "If she would come out and admit that she was involved and admit that she prompted those boys to do that I might, you know, maybe her sentence should be reconsidered." He also mentioned a book on Gregg's life, Skylights and Screen Doors will be available "within the month."
Not surprisingly, that sets a new record for page views here with 2059. The most before was in 2004, with 1349 views on Aug 28 when Ray Fowler was having problems after his release.
William Smart quietly and adamantly worked to oppose any of Pame's motions for a new trial or sentence reduction. He also spoke at parole board hearings for the boys to keep three of them in prison for their full sentences. He had softened his stand against William Flynn, as Flynn has pulled his life together in prison. Gregg's brothers will carry on his father's efforts. More.
After airing the first segment, that and the rest of the interview is now up at WMUR's web site.
The New York Post is first in print about a settlement over her treatment and solitary confinement after a prison guard sold photos of her to The National Enquirer. She was awarded $8,750 and her attorneys $13,125 in fees.
In a story mostly about the appellate rejection last month was a note that the case over Smart's treatment in the wake of the National Enquirer affair is not over. Seacoastonline.com notes at the end:
"According to court documents, the New York Attorney general's office and lawyers for Smart are currently working to finalize a settlement agreement.
Smart sued the state in 2006, claiming unfair treatment by prison officials after scantily clad photos of her in a cell appeared in the National Enquirer.
In the suit, she alleges that after the photos appeared in the supermarket tabloid, she was forced to spend two months in a 23-hour-a-day low-down facility."
This news item got very little coverage. www.lohud.com reports "The appeals court upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss the claim, saying the prison was not negligent for injuries Smart sustained in the attack.
"While the state's duty to an inmate encompasses protection from the foreseeable risk of harm at the hands of other prisoners, the state is not an insurer of an inmate's safety," the Sept. 22 ruling stated."
In a story from The Eagle-Tribune reports that Judge Kenneth McHugh, who sentenced a teenage Randall, decided to clip the minimum term of the sentence, reducing it by three years, making him eligible for parole in 2015.
The request was denied with Judge Kenneth McHugh concluding that 18 years in prison is not enough time, especially with Gregg Smart's family strongly opposed to a release now. However, the Associated Press says the judge will make Flynn eligible for parole after spending 25 years in prison, that would be a 3 year reduction. William Smart suggested Flynn should serve at least 23 years of his sentence to match the 23 years of Gregg Smart's life.
This was part of a lawsuit filed in 2004. Part was denied in 2006 and this part had a hearing in 2007. Judge Stephen Mignano ruled that the only ones responsible were the inmates who attacked her. This ruling seems to have gotten very little press even though it may lead prisons to tolerate a much higher level of violence among inmates.
William Flynn, who fired the shot that killed Gregg Smart, has been granted his request for a hearing to request a sentence reduction. It will be held in Rockingham Superior Court where Smart's trial was held.
An Associated Press article has a good summary of Flynn's time in prison. The article notes that "Flynn has also gotten married, to a woman six years his senior who was coming out of a divorce when they met at the prison." His wife, Kelly, has a teenage daughter.
A May 6th article in various seacoast papers has a good summary. An editorial might note that the process gives online petitions a bad name and are not worth any consideration. Ultimately the petition will either be ignored or denied.
In the wake of the lockdown and strip searches after the prison photos of Pame were printed by the National Enquirer, she filed a lawsuit accusing officials at New York's Bedford Hills. U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet dismissed the suit, saying that Smart did not sufficiently prove that her rights had been violated.
As expected, the five-member Executive Council voted unanimously to deny a pardon hearing for Smart.
The Union Leader reports Governor Lynch will finally give this to the Executive Council for consideration, but it's not exactly clear when. The newspaper talked to four of the five councilors, all are cool on the idea of holding a formal hearing on the request.
I nearly went to the parole hearing, but wound up in Comcast hell with problems setting up a new cable modem. Apparently things went okay, the first report came from WNNE, a Vermont TV station. The story also mentions that Vance Latime's sentence has been reduced by three years, and could be paroled this year.
The Hampton Union reports that Ray Fowler has pled guilty to the parole violation charge. I guess this is the logical conclusion to pleading guilty to witness tampering. Thanks to the time already served, his earliest parole date on the charge is the end of June. He will have a parole board hearing on that on April 28.
The Hampton Union reports that Ray Fowler has pled guilty to the witness tampering charge. It appears to me that this is due in part to not being able to afford a lawyer who could put on a decent defense and in part due to the wheels of justice moving so slowly that there is little to be gained by going to trial. The witness tampering charge carries a one to three year prison term, eligible for parole after one. His has been in prison since the parole violation for 263 days and gets credit for that.
The risk is that parole board will revoke the original parole, the hope is he'll be released by the end of the summer. A parole violation hearing is tentatively scheduled for April 5.
The Union Leader ran an article about Eleanor Pam, Pame's academic director when Pame was working on her masters degrees from prison. Pam decided during that period that Smart is innocent. Much of the article's contents are comments from polled Executive Council members who haven't seen the pardon request yet.
The Concord Monitor reports "Smart wants a Pardon", "because her trial was irreparably tainted by media coverage and that her sentence was disproportionately harsh." I'm not sure if she's looking to be released, for a commutation to allow parole, or a new trial, but I think it's the first. In any event, pardons need to be approved by NH's governor and four of the five member Executive Council. The Red Sox have a better chance of winning the World Series than Pame has of getting a pardon. However, that's about the only avenue left for her. I'll post a note when the pardon is denied.
The Nashua Telegraph says the pardon is requesting a reduction in her "life without parole" sentence. That has a chance of being heard, but I'd be very, very surprised if it is granted.
Seacoast Online reports that a cable television network established by Oprah Winfrey has taped the story of Pamela Smart for its "Snapped" series. The documentary should air this spring. The series looks at female felons and tries to identify the moment they "snapped."
This was heard in Hampton District Court. I had hoped to attend, but I'm busy with too much other stuff. Apparently it was a remarkable hearing with the State Attorney General's office replacing the Seabrook prosecutor, one of the police officers' testimony changing from what he gave at the parole board hearing, and the witness who was tampered with wasn't there. She didn't want to press charges and doesn't want Fowler back in jail. Why is the state bothering to pursue this at all? I've seen only one news story about the hearing. A later story has a good summary.
See The Portsmouth Herald for details.
I don't have much experience with parole boards. While the actions seem a bit harsh, they are not surprising. At the parole hearing in 2003, I remember the board sternly telling Fowler that they didn't want to hear about him from the police. The parole board didn't have to let him out early, so it must be easy for them to justify putting him back into prison. Also, parole boards do not pass judgement on the original charge or sentence, they accept them on their face. A common result is that someone who did a crime can impress a parole board with his remorse and rehabilitation, whereas someone unjustly convicted would have to fake the remorse and admit to the crime before winning parole.
I think the following is the germane timeline.
- Fowler gets girlfriend.
- Things turn into a love triangle, after girlfriend becomes pregnant with Fowler's child.
- June 8: Fowler hears girlfriend is taking drugs with new boyfriend around 2 AM.
- He and his brother leave home in Seabrook NH and go to boyfriend's home in Salisbry MA, knocks on doors, windows, and yells to wake her/get her attention. He may have had a verbal altercation with the new boyfriend. (Media reports say he went to his girlfriend's house, I hear otherwise.)
- He lets air out of 1 of tires on her car to keep her from driving while under the influence of drugs.
- "It wasn't a wise choice," Fowler told the board. "I was concerned about the well-being of my baby."
- Police arrive, the Fowlers leave after being told he would receive a summons for disturbing the peace.
- That morning: Fowler reports the incident to Barry Osborn, his parole officer since leaving prison.
- June 15: Fowler goes to meet his new parole officer, Bob Meegan. Meghan decides Fowler is "in crisis," arrests him, and sends him back to prison.
- July 27: At the parole board hearing on the matter, Fowler is charged with witness tampering (a felony). (At this point, I don't think Fowler has received the summons for the disturbing the peace incident. Can you be charged with witness tampering before someone is charged with a crime? Probably, witnesses can be tampered with when it is clear a murder has been commited but before there is enough evidence to charge someone.)
- The parole board unanimously decides to keep Fowler in prison pending arraignment and parole hearing on the witness tampering charge and a hearing later to determine whether to revoke his parole altogether.
Seabrook Police Chief David Currier said of the events, "High profile or not, rich or poor, we're going to treat people equally." I think this means that Salisbury and Seabrook are bad places for fighting with your girlfriend or spouse.
This early article has more detail, but doesn't add much to what you've read above. Fowler was sent back to prison on June 15th.
Ever since her conviction, Pame has been trying get a new trial, but so far has been rebuffed at each step. The latest was an attempt "to pursue an appeal from the denial of her federal habeas petition." This appears to be a mechanism used when one's constitutional rights have been violated and a lower court has refused an appeal. A three judge panel ruled against her, saying some claims were forfeited by not bringing them up before, and that others did not merit an appeal. Let me know if you want to see the entire decision.
I just heard (Sept. 7) that a documentary that may have triggered a recent flurry of page accesses will be broadcast on PBS in December. A reader dropped me a note last month mentioning that PBS was planning to air it. She noted in part:
I did a google search on Smart because last night I saw a movie called 'What I Want My Words To Do To You', a documentary about women at Bedford Hills Prison who are in a writing project with Eve Ensler (the playwright who created the Vagina monologues). Smart is one of the women in the writing group and talks about her case some. I thought the movie was very moving and recommend it if you can find it somewhere. I did hear that it will be shown on PBS on the POV show.The newer note says "This powerful film received a standing ovation at its debut and went on to win an award at the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake this past winter."
I wasn't planning to note this, but events seem to be making this into a Item of Significance. In August or September The National Enquirer ran a story with photos about Pame's life in prison. While the article probably ran without her knowledge, the prison retaliated with more than two months of solitary confinement and daily strip searches. Pame filed a lawsuit against Bedford Hills after she was released from solitary.
A parole plan (meeting schedule, employment plans, etc) needs to be written and approved before release. That should take 2-4 weeks. The board meets at the state prison, only five miles from home so I attended along with family and reporters. The parole hearing was a bit of a mix of patting Fowler on the back for doing everything asked of him during his prison term and stern warnings about what happens should he miss a requirement of his parole plan.
Since his earlier hearing, Fowler has been at a halfway house in Concord NH and working in the community. While in prison he learned a furniture building trade but transportation limitations forced him to work as a cook at a nearby restaurant.
An uptick in people searching for Pame Smart pages coincided with the return of Elizabeth Smart to her family in Utah. As far as I know, there is no relationship between that family and Gregg Smart's family.
CONCORD, N.H. - The father of murder victim Gregg Smart says one of the four teenage boys convicted of helping Pamela Smart kill her husband 12 years ago should be paroled.
Raymond Fowler was scheduled for a parole hearing Tuesday morning. He could be released as early as January.
"He's mentally challenged," William Smart, the victim's father, told WBZ-AM radio. "I don't want to say anything derogatory against the poor kid. He's been there for 12 years and it's time for him to get out. Don't ask me about the other three guys because I'll tell them to stay there forever."
Fowler waited in a car while his 15-year-old friend William Flynn shot insurance salesman Gregory Smart in the Derry condominium he shared with his wife, Pamela, according to prosecutors. Fowler, a Seabrook resident, was 18 at the time. The Portsmouth Herald says that Fowler was more involved than just being the driver.
In her third appeal, she argued that she was denied her right to her fair trial because of extensive media coverage, but a U.S. District Court judge rejected her arguments in an order made public Thursday.
According to Judge Steven McAuliffe, the appeal mirrored Smart's previous attempt to win a new trial "except for a few minor stylistic changes."
He said Smart's case did not meet the requirements for intervention by a federal court.
Smart also claimed that her Eighth Amendment protection from cruel and unusual punishment was violated because her punishment was more severe than the 28-year sentence given to William Flynn.