CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Pamela Smart, serving a life sentence for her role in plotting her husband’s 1990 murder with her teenage student, publicly acknowledged her full responsibility for the first time in a video released Tuesday as part of her latest bid for a reduced sentence.
Smart, now 56, was a 22-year-old high school media coordinator when she engaged in an affair with a 15-year-old student who later shot and killed her husband, Gregory Smart, in Derry, New Hampshire. The shooter was released in 2015 after serving a 25-year sentence. Despite maintaining her innocence initially, Pamela Smart was convicted of complicity in first-degree murder and other charges, receiving a life sentence without parole.
Having spent nearly 34 years in prison, Smart stated in the video that her involvement in a writing group prompted her to “delve deeper into my own accountability” and explore uncomfortable truths.