The Trial of Pamela Smart

[Music] hey you and welcome my name is mike and in this old video i'll give you a second if you just want to get through your comments on new glasses and we can move on in this whole video we're gonna get smart on the story of pamela smart we're going to new hampshire which is a first for uh this channel so look forward to that and we're going to the distant if you can believe it year of 1990 it was a good year i think we really took the 90s for granted oh pammy maiden of metal which is a badass name worked at a high school and when she bought well hey why kick the tires and we can just give it a go [Music] pamela wojas was born in august 1967 in coral gables flora to a well-to-do family her dad was an airline pilot her mother a part-time legal secretary the family then moved back to new hampshire where pam went to elementary school and high school where she was a cheerleader she was ambitious even as a child always aimed high you know love the attention and she will get it probably i don't know the way she wants it though i mean but in high school i mean i think she she did actually get the type she wanted i hope i mean she was popular she was well-liked due to her sense of humor and she was just a lovely girl she went on to study at florida state university and dreamed of becoming a news anchor or getting into that industry at least again she will but um you know probably not in the way she wanted in college she worked on the radio station right where she had her own show called metal madness she was the maiden of metal that's obviously the coolest thing while in college she was lucky enough to travel home pretty often thanks to her dad working for an airline and it was in 1986 when she was popping back home for the festive season on new year's eve she headed out to a party and with some friends that's where she met the one his name was greg smart and the two became steady quick the couple had a shared interest in heavy metal and it was one of the reasons the maiden of metal was so attracted to him and so when pam was to return to college greg went with her he had no intention to study he was just so head over heels into her he had to be with her and pam felt the same way the couple were to take the next step in the relationship and get married so they decided to move back to new hampshire to a town called derry and i guess that's where we could say pam became pammy wise couldn't resist the couple moved into an upscale residential area they got a dog their new rented home was only a block away from the home of greg's parents greg landed a job for himself as an insurance salesperson so unfortunately the last part of his metal personality had to go she freaked out when she saw you know the short-haired sue wearing greg man like uh boring you look like a real person now come on what the f you know went for pam rock and roll never dies unfortunately though their relationship did start to die unlike rock and roll things started to sour when greg told pam he had cheated on her which went down about as well as a lead balloon pam got a job at a high school where she worked as a media services coordinator making videos and that sort of thing she volunteered at a drug prevention organization called project self-esteem my late 80s early 90s were something else who taught you how to do this stuff you all right pam she was young 22 get on great with all the students who loved her because she was fun she was funny she was just a great person to be around she was the whole package and certainly one student thought that and that was william flynn billy [Music] billy was pretty much like a little puppy around her followed her as much as he could he would be at her beck and call during volunteer sessions he would visit pam's office more and more up to the point that it became an everyday thing yeah of course pam knew what was going on but she was like yeah sweet but you know ham recently finding out that her husband had cheated on her she enjoyed the confidence booster she was loving it she was loving the attention she gained back her confidence you know true billy's feelings and more billy was pam's perfect man boy he had shoulder-length hair and earring whoa and was rocking the leather jacket he was really into heavy metal and even played the guitar he didn't earring a leather jacket and an axe he's somebody we should all be looking up to so pam was like feeding billy's feelings and in early 1990 they kissed pam also became friends with another student a cecilia pierce she would be pam's teen assistant and pam would share everything with her unfortunately for pam so in late march 1990 greg was out of town on a work thing for a few days when pam decided to invite over billy and cecilia you know let's hang out shoot the [ __ ] maybe watch a flick maybe it was nine and a half weeks which is pretty hot i haven't seen it but that got things you know cooking so when cecilia had to go walk the dog yes cecilia go walk the dog ham and billy went up to pam's room and uh well knocked boots pam and billy continued their secret relationship in the following weeks but there was a problem problem named greg which takes us to the first of may 1990 it was a tuesday to be you know it was greg got ready for work and was out the door at 9 45 a.m a few minutes later pam left for work herself she was to arrive home late that evening had some school meetings when she arrived home at 10 10 the house was dark which was unusual you know greg he would always turn the porch light first thing he did when he got home his car was there house was dark and when she entered the house she found him lying on the floor she screamed around to the neighbors for help she was absolutely hysterical emergency yes um emergency in 4e missed a summerfield condominium there's someone passed out i don't know a girl is hysterical in here she just ran over her husband is cast out you know why he stepped up he's on the way do you know why he's tapped out no we don't know 911 arrived but there was nothing to be done soon after first responders arrived the police initiated the investigation and the detectives were on the case the place looked like maybe a burglary or something a clumsy one but it didn't take long for detectives to realize this was no burglary and there was no forced entry greg's wedding ring which had diamonds still on the old finger his wallet with money in it still remained and greg had been executed shot in the head from close range from step one there were a lot of questions in this case and as per usual those questions get directed at the person closest to the victim though you know it couldn't have been um she was at a meeting when it happened so right rocking my brains airlines don't know what's going on billy old billy boy you know all of 15 years old big buckle he had two good friends right pete randall and vance vladimir junior jayor as he'd be known now billy had kind of a tough upbringing his parents marriage was rocky constant fighting and his mother took him to new hampshire from california when he was 12 away from his dad his dad died not long after in a car accident but his two buddies p and j or were very supportive and those two lads were described as great kids though for petey there was a rumor going around that his ambition was to become a hitman probably should try and aim a little higher not with a scope though here in that business you might kill him cecilia too was part of that group and she was very close with pam pam was the center of attention from cecilia and billy the way she liked it two weeks after the investigation into greg's death began new leads came to light jay or his dad so esor he came to the police you know on the 10th of june with a gun his gun and he told the police he believed that was used in the murder of greg's smart see vance vladimir senior had to use that gun a couple of weeks before what happened to greg but he hadn't cleaned it so when he came in seeing the gun was somebody cleaned it he was well someone was using it alarm bells and his belief turned out to be true that gun was the one that took greg's life not long after an anonymous call was made to the police the tip was about information regarding cecilia's knowledge about the death of greg and the fact that it was planned by none other than pam now the police were already questioning pam's involvement in the case she just seemed off you know she would actually be dubbed the ice queen by the media because she was just seeming so you know blasey about uh the whole thing for example days after when the police took her to the scene of the crime she had not a butter walking all over the bladey carpet others maybe would have stepped around the police went to speak with the tree teens in the case they didn't say much though cecilia was more than happy to help [Music] including wearing a wire which she did this is a conversation recorded between cecilia pierce and pamela smart at the winneconnet high school in hampton new hampshire [Music] pretty much they they finally yeah [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] on the 1st of august pam was taken by surprise you know uh by the police she was in her office doing her bits and bobs but it went out about 1 pm they walked in the detective said to pam well got some good news and i got some bad news good news is we solved your husband's murder so yeah random applause please bad news you're under arrest of course the local media you know had been following the story since it began but now all eyes in the nation turned towards the case it was a phenomenon can we admit that we're all transfixed by that sick little soap opera trial in exeter new hampshire if this story were a made for tv movie and it surely will be you might not believe it the smart trial is the hottest show in exeter so hot you have to have a ticket to get in scene has become commonplace for my girlfriend she can't she couldn't leave [ __ ] guys monday through friday groupies of the pamela smart trial camp out for hours just to get one of the 30 tickets reserved for public seating inside the courtroom what time did you get here today 1 30 this morning 1 30. why want to get a front row seat i guess it's just the case is so bizarre that i just can't believe the whole thing so i thought it'd be interesting to come and see exactly what is transpiring you mean just watching it on television was not enough it's not enough although when we came friday i ended up watching it on television in the other room there because the court was filled do you swear that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth of the truth [Music] those arriving too late for the reserve seating which today was anytime after 4 30 a.m are still allowed to watch the proceedings on a 13-inch television monitor across from the courtroom our guest alan dershowitz has come to the legal rescue of klaus von bulow leona helmsley jim baker among other desperate defendants can you imagine a route to freedom for pamela smart it's not going to be easy the coverage of the case was in full bloom before the trial even begun women being involved in homicide cases was pretty rare and the case was already intriguing people but it kicked into overdrive when the truth about the relationship between pam and billy came to light what was the nature of your relationship with bill clinton in the fall of that year same as everyone else's just acquaintances you like him yes i thought he was a good kid he was easy to talk to friendly yeah he liked some of the same music that i i do and he played the guitar did your relationship with bill never change yes it did why um why i don't know but how um when we were working on the video i was well i was told from the beginning that from cecilia that bill had had a crush on me and um i i didn't like him at first but yes i did i did start to like him during the filming of the orange juice video yes i did well i didn't set out to have an affair with him but i did well there had been quite a few occasions on when i had wanted to tell greg but i had chickened out i drove up to the house and went into the garage and i went up to the house and i noticed that the outside lights weren't on and i remember thinking that that was odd because greg usually left him on when he knew that i was going to be late but you know i didn't think it was anything major i just remember thinking it was odd well it all happened in a matter of like not even a second i don't think and i remember seeing things near him like a candle sticking a pillow and i remember i thought the first thing i thought was to go get help and i said i said greg craig's name and he didn't answer and i ran out it all happened really fast it's hard for me to remember exactly i didn't know what was going on especially when the tabloids got a hold of this picture pam wasn't a murderer she wasn't the one to pull the trigger and so this is when the story goes you know two ways pamela smart to this day says she's innocent she had nothing to do with greg smart her husband's murder right while the boys they say mean manipulative old half smart she masterminded the entire operation and if it wasn't for her her husband would still be alive when the trial finally started in march 1991 people already had their thoughts and judgments about pam the trial lasted for 14 days billy jayor pete and cecilia all took the stand yes infill was getting a firearm to kill greg for pam yeah because that's what bill told me right that's what pam told me and new details came to light one of the most important ones being that if pam got a divorce she would lose everything what was the first time that bill flynn told you that you wanted to be smart probably i asked him why and told him he was nuts he had told me that pam had asked him to and said that pam had uh wanted greg dead for different reasons um i've heard one conversation i come into pam's office with bill flynn and she had switched on the speakerphone on the phone i heard that very end in an argument i don't know what the argument was about but it ended with well if you want a divorce that's fine by me and they both hung up she had told billy she was afraid of losing the condo and everything in it and the thought of losing her dog scared her the most she also claimed that greg had physically abused her billy he was conflicted he didn't want to kill greg but he couldn't lose pam either so after some time he agreed to pam's plan allegedly billy got cold feet on two occasions he just couldn't go through with the murder ham therefore got furious she even told billy that he cannot do it they'll have to break up which well in turn he decided greg had to go billy told his two best buds about it all getting them involved in a murder plan he needed support to be able to go through with it the boys discussed the plan over and over and at the end they went with pam's original plan the boys were to dress in black pam was to leave the side doors open for them to get easy access the police had to be staged to look like a burglary and the boys got to keep things from the house once the murder was carried out also not only that pam was to give them 500 each their cut of greg's 140 thousand dollar life insurance policy how generous as it was a tuesday the boys went to school pam and greg to work pam and the boys were ill right like casual except for the fact that allegedly pam went to school dressed like a christmas tree with every single piece of jewelry she had because she thought the boys might steal it when they went to kill her husband she told bell not to kill greg in front of the dog because it would traumatize the dog jay orr and another friend stayed in the car while billy and pete went inside they messed up the place and waited when greg arrived home the two teens overpowered him well we went to the kitchen and there's a butchered butcher block there and uh he took a knife out of the butcher's block why did he take a knife out of the butcher [Music] because he was gonna uh instead of using the gun he was gonna cut grace uh he was gonna kill greg with a knife what was he gonna cut he's gonna um i saw greg pull up in the truck and um i ran out of the kitchen and i seen jesus peter's here he's here so uh all right pete said calm down now let's go i heard greg walking up towards the door and um i could hear the keys jingling outside the door so he unlocked the door and uh he opened the door i jumped out from behind the door and uh i grabbed him on his by his shoulders on his suit jacket and um i was trying to pull him in the condo well he started yelling and he was trying to back out at the house he started yelling and he was trying to back out of the house pete jumped out from where he was and uh pushed him in he shut up the um the lights and shut the door but the man got caught in the door and then um he took the mat out of the doorway and shut the door well greg was saying uh what's going on what's going on and i was telling him to be quiet greg thinking it was a robbery handed his billfold to the boys but when he was ordered to give them his wedding band he refused saying no i couldn't my wife will kill me wouldn't she just test him for the ring on his finger what kind of ring was it at first i thought it was just a normal gold wing but it turned out to be a wedding band and what happened at that time told me he couldn't give it to me why he said his wife would kill him now when he said my wife would kill me i can't give the ring what did you say to him i didn't say anything greg was then shot by billy i cocked the hammer back you know i pointed the gun at his head i said um god forgive me i pulled the trigger i didn't want to kill greg you know i wanted to be with pam and that's what i had to do to be with pam but i didn't want to kill greg it was the sultry teacher you know luring these innocent children you know to murder for lust and greed how could anybody not watch this case it's got everything how do you not watch it and judge it well the defense was arguing that yes pam and billy had an affair but when pam called it off billy well do you want this jury to understand that bill flynn decided to kill your husband because you broke up with them i want this jury to understand the truth is that what you're claiming the truth is i don't know why bill flynn killed greg i can just come in here and give my testimony so even as you sit here today you still have no idea why he may have done this is that it i have not i didn't say i had no idea but i don't know specifically well i'm asking you what do you think why do you think he did this probably because he thought we could be together after 13 hours of debating the jury brought back the guilty verdict the judge immediately sentenced pam smart to life without parole on case number 90s 1370 which charges a defendant with a crime of conspiracy to commit murder how say was the defendant guilty or not guilty of the offense charged guilty so say you all as for the boys well there's been some controversy see in 2006 a report by keen state college journalism students found that there would be evidence to suggest billy was not the man behind the gun maybe maybe just maybe it could have been done by the aspiring hitman pete you see the state's ballistic report says that the gun that was you know shot dutch killed greg the person who he's using was right-handed when well billy was left-handed pete was right-handed so was inspiring hitman pete randall you know um this is practice getting some training in also the credibility of the boys was questioned by the defense as they were testifying against palm in return for dropping their charges from first to second degree murder the boys were also housed together in prison in the weeks and months before the trial so plenty of time tavana oh chinwak get the story straight billy pled guilty to second-degree murder and after plea bargains was sentenced to life in prison 12 years being the minimum sentence if he maintained good behavior pete the other teen in the house got the very same jay orr who was the driver in the case and the one who provided a murder weapon was sentenced to life in prison as an accomplice to second-degree murder eligible for parole after 30 years with 12 years suspended cecilia was faced with the prospect of being charged as an accessory to the murder she was a co-conspirator and helped the murder plot in fact on two separate occasions she also helped billy break into parked cars looking for a gun to shoot greg with she was not to be charged in the case though as she cooperated with the police pam claimed that you know during those wiretape conversations she she was trying to lure cecilia to tell her more so she was just going along you know the entire times yeah of course you know i'm the good guy here sylvia was calling me on the phone and she was very nervous very excited and worried and saying that she couldn't believe the kids were arrested so i was wondering why what she was so worried about and she seemed to indicate to me that she knew more than she was saying so i mean obviously she knew about the affair but i didn't mean just the affirmative more about the murder and so she kept calling me and she would see me at the office and she was all excited about about everything going on so i thought that she hadn't had more information and once again like i said my only source of information was cecilia pierce or the news and i was totally obsessed with finding out who murdered my husband why what had happened in that house and just why no one was telling me anything so what did you do well i figured that if she knew more about the murder then she would tell me if i acted like i knew more about it and i told her well she had said to me that she had asked me did i know about the murder beforehand and initially i had said no and then she made a statement to me that if i knew more about it that as long as i told her that she wouldn't tell anyone and that we had to stick together so in my mind i thought that i would play a game with her and i would say that i knew more about the murder no you to get information oh yeah just let you know as well as a side note cecilia sold the rights to the pamela smart story to a film production company for 100 000 nice now this case had a lot of controversy jurors are out of line multiple times you know there's talking about the case outside the courtroom there's a lot of [ __ ] going down and this was the first case that was really widely uh there was a lot of media coverage about it before oj and like a lot of the more famous 90s cases this was number one and everybody was watching it when the defense attorney tried to move the trial to another state due to the amount of coverage they were refused whether she had a part in this or not pam smart had no chance at all the pamela smart murder trial dominated the media for many months and when it was over pam was convicted for coaxing her teenage lover and his two friends to murder her 24 year old husband greg smart even so there are many people who believe that pam did not receive a fair trial and is innocent some of the friends of pamela smart shown here at last weekend's fundraiser and also included in that are men who are sending her gifts writing and phoning her in prison and even composing songs for her some wonder if these men have a crush on her did you plan the murder of your husband no i did not did you know it was going to happen no i did not did you want him hurt no what happened to greg is is the most horrible thing i've ever gone through in my life and i i'm still haunted every day by memories of what must have happened to him inside our house before he was killed pam has spent almost three decades behind bars in maximum security prisons prisons plural because she didn't have an easy time in prison hasn't been having one in 1996 pam was beaten by two prisoners her injuries were so severe she had to be hospitalized and a plate had to be inserted into her face since then pam has been on pain medication in 2003 pictures of a half nude pam appeared in the national enquirer tabloid you know i always associated national enquirer with class so this is very surprising allegedly a prison officer sexually assaulted pam and threatened her if she says anything her family will be in danger the pictures were taken by the officer after the alleged assault occurred pam was also accused of being part of a drug circle after some medication was found in her cell that contained morphine i mean she was already on pain medication but who needs a good reason you know and then so she was locked away in solitary confinement for 77 days for her own good nice great she's been volunteering for decades now and part of different support groups in fact here is a long list of her achievements since being incarcerated pam never actually admitted or said she'd anything to do with greg's murder now she obviously admitted to having a relationship with billy she regrets that obviously because the boys and the ones who actually pulled the trigger are now all free taking the podium this is bill flynn's first chance to tell the smart family how sorry he is for killing their son as soon as i could run today i felt a tremendous amount of shame and so ends this old story tragic all around and you know especially if what pam is saying is true being in prison for 30 years but what do you think you know let me know what's going on in your noodle about this case but there's one thing i think you know we can all agree on right i think that is that the word smart has no place in this case thank you so much for watching i really appreciate it i will see you as always real soon in the next video take care of yourselves my camp [Music] you

Channel: That Chapter

Views: 1,859,047

Keywords: that chapter, pamela smart, pamela smart trial, billy flynn, gregg smart, pamela smart case, pam smart billy flynn

Id: W4WT-O5-ar0

Length: 31min 40sec (1900 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 02 2020