New Hampshire Judge Rejects Pamela Smart New-Trial Bid

A New Hampshire judge dismissed Pamela Smart’s latest petition seeking a new trial and sentencing in the 1990 murder of her husband, Gregory Smart. Smart, who is serving life without parole for accomplice to first-degree murder and related convictions, argued that constitutional violations tainted her trial. Her lawyers said prosecutors gave jurors inaccurate transcripts of secretly recorded conversations, potentially influencing how they heard key words, and raised additional claims involving ineffective counsel, media coverage and sentencing. Judge James Kennedy ruled that the transcript issue had already been addressed in earlier appeals and that Smart failed to show specific inaccuracies or prejudice; he also rejected her other arguments. Smart’s case drew national attention because she had an affair with the 15-year-old student who shot her husband and was among the first U.S. trials broadcast live from start to finish.