{"id":2271779,"date":"2024-06-19T16:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T20:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/remembering-the-pamela-smart-case-americas-first-televised-murder-trial\/"},"modified":"2024-06-19T16:21:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-19T20:21:38","slug":"remembering-the-pamela-smart-case-americas-first-televised-murder-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/remembering-the-pamela-smart-case-americas-first-televised-murder-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Recalling the Pamela Smart Case: The First Murder Trial Broadcast on TV in the U.S"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fremembering-the-pamela-smart-case-americas-first-televised-murder-trial%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2271779&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article revolves around Pamela Smart, a media coordinator at \u2062Winnacunnet High School in New Hampshire, who was involved in a scandalous incident wherein \u200bher husband Gregg Smart \u2063was murdered. Pamela, who had an affair\u200d with \u200b15-year-old student Billy Flynn, was implicated in orchestrating the murder of her husband, just before their one-year anniversary.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2062initial scene \u200cpresented was typical of a burglary, but inconsistencies like unforced entries and Gregg&#8217;s valuables still being \u200cintact raised questions. \u200dSubsequent investigations revealed involvement of teenagers, including Flynn, who \u2062claimed \u2063that Pamela was \u200dthe mastermind behind\u200b the \u200cmurder, \u2062driven by motives related to life insurance and an extramarital affair.<\/p>\n<p>The\u2064 case,\u2062 which became the first nationally broadcast trial in America, drew \u200cimmense media attention.\u200c During the trial, details \u2063emerged about the extent of Pamela&#8217;s manipulation, including \u200dher directive to make the \u200cmurder scene look like a burglary.\u200b Despite her defense and denials, Pamela was \u200bfound guilty, largely\u200d based on testimonies from Flynn and\u2062 other teens involved, \u2063who received plea deals in return.<\/p>\n<p>The case stands as a significant legal and media landmark, exemplifying the complex interplay of personal relationships, crime,\u2063 and media scrutiny.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s hard to remember a time before <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alec-baldwin-other-rust-movie-producers-could-face-tremendous-legal-fallout-experts-say\/\" title=\"Alec Baldwin, Other 'Rust' Movie Producers Could Face 'Tremendous Legal Fallout' Experts Say\">high-profile trials<\/a> were broadcast on live television, and while O.J.\u2019s may be the most memorable, it was not the first. That honor belongs to Pamela Smart, a young professional at a New Hampshire high school who had an affair with a student who would go on to murder her husband.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pamela Wojas grew up in Miami, Florida, but her family moved to Derry, New Hampshire, while she was in the eighth grade. When it was time to go to college, Pamela moved back to Florida and attended Florida State University, where she graduated with a degree in communications. In 1986, Pamela met Greggory Smart during Christmas break while home in New Hampshire, and the two became inseparable. They officially began dating in February 1987, and Gregg eventually moved to Tallahassee to be with Pamela while she finished college.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The two were married in 1989 \u2013 Pamela was 21 and Gregg was 23 \u2013 and moved back to New Hampshire after Pamela graduated. Gregg began selling insurance at his father\u2019s company, and Pamela took a job as a media coordinator at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On May 1, 1990, a week before their one-year wedding anniversary, Pamela arrived home around 10:00 p.m. to find the porch light hadn\u2019t been turned on \u2013 something Gregg always did so she wouldn\u2019t have to walk to the condo in the dark. It was a Tuesday evening, and when Pamela opened the front door she saw Gregg laying face down on the floor leading into the dining area. She immediately ran from the home and began screaming and knocking on neighbors\u2019 doors, saying her husband was hurt and lying on the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Neighbors called 911, and soon police were at the scene. They realized Gregg was dead and found the house had been ransacked, yet Gregg still had his wallet and wedding ring. Police also found the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-house-joe-biden-doesnt-believe-in-making-schools-more-secure\/\" title=\"White House: Joe Biden Doesn\u2019t Believe In Making Schools More Secure\">back door open<\/a> and the bulkhead doors that led to the basement unlocked. There was no sign of forced entry, yet the crime scene had the appearance of a burglary gone wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police also wondered why anyone would risk a burglary on a weeknight, when people would be home and awake.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The case received local media attention, and Gregg\u2019s funeral was televised, with Pamela appearing distraught and relying on her friends and family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police looking into the murder initially believed Gregg may have been gambling and heavily in debt, which could have resulted in his murder. Pamela, however, called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-massive-explosion-in-downtown-nashville-on-christmas-morning-possible-car-bomb-video\/\" title=\"BREAKING: Massive Explosion in Downtown Nashville on Christmas Morning, Possible Car Bomb (VIDEO)\">local reporter<\/a> Bill Spencer to say Gregg didn\u2019t have a gambling problem, and agreed to do an interview with him. During that interview, Spencer said in the documentary \u201cPamela Smart: An American Murder Mystery,\u201d that while filming the segment, Pamela suggested showing the top of the couple\u2019s wedding cake, which he thought odd. Pamela was dressed up with her makeup done perfectly, and making suggestions to the film crew about how to improve the segment. She didn\u2019t cry, and Spencer found it strange that she didn\u2019t ask for help solving the murder, as victims usually did.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_753083\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-753083\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Landers\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police were stumped about who could have wanted Gregg dead, but on May 14, they received a call saying Pamela planned the murder. The caller worked with a teenager named Cecelia Pierce, who attended Winnacunnet High School and interned for Pamela. The caller said Cecelia, 15, had been talking about how Pamela planned the murder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police questioned Cecelia, who claimed to know nothing about the murder. During that initial interview, Cecelia did say she had stayed at the Smart home one week before the murder. This detail interested police, since Pamela had provided a list of everyone who had stayed at the home for the month prior to the murder \u2013 and didn\u2019t include Cecelia. Pamela did, however, make sure to emphasize that a water salesman had come to the house prior to Gregg\u2019s murder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Police again were left with little to go on, until six weeks after the murder, when Vance Lattime walked into the police station and handed over a .38 caliber pistol he believed was the murder weapon. Vance told police that his son\u2019s friend had suggested the gun was used in the murder. At first, Vance said he didn\u2019t believe the teen, but he checked the gun in question and realized it had been cleaned \u2013 which isn\u2019t how he had stored it previously. Worried, he turned the gun over to investigators.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ralph Welch, the friend of Vance\u2019s son, was brought in for questioning and said his friend Billy Flynn had been bragging about the murder. Welch said that Flynn had pulled the trigger while his other friend, Patrick \u201cPete\u201d Randall, held Gregg\u2019s head.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Welch also provided a connection to the boys and Pamela Smart \u2013 Flynn, Vance\u2019s son J.R. Lattime Jr., and Cecelia were all part of the high school\u2019s Project Self-Esteem, where Pamela was a mentor. When asked why Pamela would want her husband of less than a year dead, Welch said that she wanted the life insurance on him and that he loved the dog more than her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flynn, Randall, and Lattime Jr. were all arrested, but because they are all juveniles, their names weren\u2019t released to the media.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pamela desperately tried to learn the names of the teens arrested for her husband\u2019s murder, and learned the truth when she called Flynn\u2019s house and spoke to his mother. Spencer, the local reporter, went to Pamela\u2019s house after the arrests to get her response, but she barely opened the door and said she was \u201cdevastated\u201d about the arrests. Spencer also found this odd, wondering why she would be \u201cdevastated\u201d when the people who had murdered her husband had just been caught.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Following the arrests, police again questioned Cecelia, Pamela\u2019s intern, about what she knew regarding the alleged murder plot. Cecelia, whose mother was present during the questioning, continued to say she didn\u2019t know anything, but after leaving the police station, she learned on the news that the police were considering arresting another student. Believing she would be arrested, Cecelia returned to the police station the next day to say that Pamela told her that she loved Flynn and that Cecelia had walked in on the two having sex. Cecelia also said Pamela was \u201cfront and center\u201d in the plot to kill Greg, according to recordings of her police interviews.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cecelia agreed to wear a wire and talk to Pamela, since Pamela wouldn\u2019t speak over the phone because she believed it was being tapped. Cecelia went to Pamela\u2019s office and the two spoke about the crime, with Pamela suggesting Cecelia lie to police so that the boys and Pamela wouldn\u2019t spend the rest of their lives in prison. She also suggested Cecelia would go to prison as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pamela, in the \u201cAmerican Murder Mystery\u201d documentary series, said that she kept hearing about developments in the case from Cecelia, and she was lying about knowing more about the murders and trying to get information from Cecelia during the recorded conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After the conversation with Cecelia, police arrested Pamela at the high school and charged her for her role in the murder of her husband.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Meanwhile, the teens charged with the actual killing refused to speak to police \u2013 until the court agreed to try them as adults. No longer facing a few years in juvenile detention, but life in prison or even the death penalty, the boys started talking.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_753069\" style=\"width: 734px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-753069\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tom Landers\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flynn said Pamela planned the murder, and the other boys back up his story. The teens were all given plea deals in exchange for testifying against Pamela, in a trial that would become America\u2019s first nationally broadcast trial.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pamela\u2019s defense attorney tried to get the trial moved from Derry, New Hampshire, arguing that the jury pool was tainted by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-convicted-eco-saboteur-disputes-biden-land-management-nominees-characterization-of-their-relationship\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: Convicted Eco-Saboteur Disputes Biden Land Management Nominee\u2019s Characterization Of Their Relationship\">local media coverage<\/a> of the crime. The judge denied the attempt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The prosecution argued that Pamela didn\u2019t just want to divorce Gregg because her affair with a 15-year-old would be exposed, damaging her reputation. She also collected on three <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mortality-among-white-collar-workers-jumped-24-percent-between-2020-and-2021\/\" title=\"Mortality Among White-Collar Workers Jumped 24 Percent Between 2020 and 2021\">life insurance policies<\/a> for Gregg, totaling about $140,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the stand, J.R., one of the teens involved in Gregg\u2019s killing, said Pamela had told them not to use a knife because it would result in too much blood, which could get on her white furniture. He also said he believed Flynn would pay him $500 for helping with the murder \u2013 and that the money was supposed to come from Gregg\u2019s life insurance payout.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The defense noted that J.R. and Flynn\u2019s cells were right next to each other, suggesting they could have corroborated their stories prior to testifying.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Flynn teared up as he was on the stand, saying that the day after he and Pamela first had sex, she mentioned murdering her husband. He testified that Pamela said she couldn\u2019t divorce Gregg because she would get nothing. He said that he believed Pamela would stop having sex with him if he didn\u2019t murder Gregg, and that he was a virgin before her.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He also said that Pamela told him she would leave the bulkhead open and asked Flynn to put her dog in the basement during the murder so it wouldn\u2019t be traumatized. He said that on the night of the murder, the boys entered the home through the unlocked door, ransacked the house to make it look like a burglary, and then waited until Gregg came home to kill him.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_753073\" style=\"width: 467px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-753073\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">MediaNews Group\/Boston Herald via Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pamela took the stand in her own defense, denying the boys\u2019 allegations and saying she was susceptible to the affair with the teenage boy because Gregg had recently confessed he had cheated on her. She said she broke off the affair with Flynn because she loved Gregg and wanted to make the marriage work, and suggested Flynn and his friends killed Gregg out of jealousy and revenge. She never cried on the stand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The jury was not sequestered during the trial, and Pamela\u2019s defense said that newspapers were found in the jury room, suggesting their conviction could have been tainted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The jury found Pamela Smart guilty on all counts, and she was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The judge denied the defense\u2019s request for a new trial based on jury bias, and Pamela exhausted all of her legal appeals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While Flynn and the other boys who committed the actual murder have all been released from prison, Pamela remains behind bars. She\u2019s also requested that her sentence be reduced, but New Hampshire\u2019s Executive Council denied her request and the state Supreme Court <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pamela-smart-teenage-lover-husband-killed-sentence-3f078128d8cb216ee1f4dcd8634eeac2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">dismissed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  her petition.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More than 34 years after the murder of her husband, Pamela <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/pamela-smart-finally-sort-of-takes-responsibility-for-husbands-murder-34-years-later\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">acknowledged<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  her own responsibility in Gregg\u2019s murder, but didn\u2019t admit to plotting his death and never mentioned his name. As recently as 2018, in the \u201cAmerican Murder Mystery\u201d documentary, Smart denied any involvement in her husband\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_753075\" style=\"width: 553px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-753075\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">AP photo\/Oxygen True Crime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before high-profile trials dominated live TV, Pamela Smart&#8217;s case set the precedent. Although O.J. Simpson&#8217;s trial is more famous, Smart, a young New Hampshire high school employee, had an affair with a student who later committed murder. This was the first trial broadcasted, marking a significant moment in television history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":2271780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-514886972-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2271779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-514886972-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2271779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2271779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2271780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2271779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2271779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2271779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}