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#DC-0072

Pamela Smart

Post-conviction habeas challenge in the Gregory Smart 1990 murder case.

Convicted
last updated 30 September 2026 · 5 sources
Confirmed facts
12
Open questions
1
Latest hearing
20 Jul 2026
Current stage
Convicted
This case is still developing. Get an email when the file updates.
Audio brief · automated narration of the sourced record
Transcript

Case file Pamela Smart, reference D C zero zero seven two. According to The Washington Post, Gregory Smart, twenty-four, was found shot to death on May first, nineteen ninety, in the couple’s condominium in Derry, New Hampshire. The Washington Post reported that on March twenty-second, nineteen ninety-one, a jury found Pamela Smart guilty of accomplice to murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and witness tampering. The Post reported that Judge Douglas Gray sentenced her to life without parole on the accomplice charge. The Associated Press reported that in January twenty twenty-six, Smart’s lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition in New York and New Hampshire seeking to overturn her conviction over claimed constitutional violations. The Associated Press reported that on July twentieth, twenty twenty-six, Smart’s lawyers urged a New Hampshire judge to allow her latest petition for a new trial to move forward. The AP reported that lawyers for the state asked the judge to dismiss the petition. The AP reported that on September seventeenth, twenty twenty-six, Merrimack County Superior Court Judge James Kennedy granted the state’s motion to dismiss the habeas petition. The file’s open question is whether Smart will appeal the dismissal. That remains unconfirmed; the AP did not report a new appeal. This has been an automated reading of case file D C zero zero seven two at developing case dot com. Every fact you heard names a public source.

Timeline of what's confirmed12 entries
1 May 1990
Gregory Smart, 24, was found shot to death in the couple's condominium in Derry, New Hampshire.
The Washington Post, 23 March 1991
22 March 1991
A jury found Pamela Smart guilty of accomplice to murder, conspiracy to commit murder and witness tampering, and Judge Douglas Gray sentenced her to life without parole on the accomplice charge.
The Washington Post, 23 March 1991
11 June 2024
A videotaped statement was released in which Smart accepted full responsibility for Gregory Smart's death for the first time as part of a sentence-reduction request.
AP, 11 June 2024
January 2026
Smart's lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition in New York and New Hampshire seeking to overturn her conviction over claimed constitutional violations.
AP, 6 January 2026
20 July 2026
Smart, 58, attended a Concord, New Hampshire, hearing remotely from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in New York.
AP, 20 July 2026
20 July 2026
Smart's lawyers urged a New Hampshire judge to allow her latest petition for a new trial to move forward.
AP, 20 July 2026
20 July 2026
Smart's lawyers argued that prosecutors misled the jury by providing transcripts of recorded conversations that included words the lawyers say were not audible on the recordings.
AP, 20 July 2026
20 July 2026
Smart's lawyers also argued that the verdict was tainted by media attention, faulty jury instructions and a mandatory life-without-parole sentence they say New Hampshire law did not require for the charge.
AP, 20 July 2026
20 July 2026
Lawyers for the state asked the judge to dismiss the petition, saying nearly all claims are barred because they were resolved on appeal or could have been raised earlier; the judge took the matter under advisement and planned to rule in 30 to 60 days.
AP, 20 July 2026
17 September 2026
Merrimack County Superior Court Judge James Kennedy granted the state's motion to dismiss Smart's habeas corpus petition seeking to overturn her conviction.
AP, 17 September 2026 · added 30 Sep 2026
17 September 2026
Judge Kennedy said Smart's arguments already were or could have been raised during earlier appeals and, even if they had not been barred, lacked merit.
AP, 17 September 2026 · added 30 Sep 2026
17 September 2026
Judge Kennedy rejected Smart's arguments that the verdict was tainted by media attention and faulty jury instructions.
AP, 17 September 2026 · added 30 Sep 2026
Open questionsunconfirmed · not conclusions
Will Smart appeal the dismissal of the habeas petition?unconfirmed; AP did not report a new appeal · unconfirmed
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