so this is still anybody's game. the semifinals conclude on monday. we'll see you right back here on the alex trebek stage. from all of us at "jeopardy! masters," have a good night. -- captions by vitac -- ♪ ♪ ♪ my name is pamela smart. i have been portrayed as black widow, ice princess, a killer, and none of those things could

be further from the truth. >> so just to be clear, did you mastermind the murder against your husband? >> absolutely not. no, i did not. >> juju: that was then, this is now, and this is new just this summer. >> i found myself responsible for something i desperately didn't want to be responsible for. >> this story had it all. a beautiful young woman. a seductress of a young teenage boy. >> perhaps the most importantly, murder. >> pam, did you have anything to do with your husband's murder? >> people were asking why this happened and why pam smart could lure a young man into killing for her. >> i never would have done it if pam didn't tell me to. she was the first girl i ever loved. i pulled the trigger. god forgive me. >> your trial defined media frenzy. >> this was the first trial to be broadcast live from start to finish. before o.j., before the menendez brothers. >> it was reality tv before there was reality tv.

>> it gets made into a movie, "to die for" which stars joaquin phoenix and nicole kidman. >> did you get the gun? >> no. >> a lot of people felt like they knew everything about me because they saw the movie. >> the boys who actually committed the murder are already free. >> how is it fair that someone who pulled the trigger is home and somebody else remains in prison? >> juju: what do you think is your best hope for getting out? so will she do it now after everything else has failed? >> for me, that was really hard. >> juju: we're going to sit here, if that's okay. i know this is not your first rodeo. >> no, it's not. >> juju: it was such a notorious crime that i was really intrigued when she agreed to a jailhouse interview. she had been maintaining her innocence for decades. we all wondered what it would be like to meet this woman, a woman that a jury was convinced had masterminded her husband's

murder. >> it's been almost three de decades, and it hurts. >> juju: you talk about all that you lost, including the potential to be a mom? >> yeah, and that makes me sad because i love children. i wanted to be a mother and now, you know, i've lost all my years. it seems like to whole world's passing by and, you know, i'm still here. >> pamela was really the golden girl of true crime in the '90s. it was a story we had never really heard before. in the '90s, she was right up there with tanya and amy fischer. this was the era of the bad girl for sure. >> right around this time is when you've got madonna doing erotica. ♪ erotic put your hands all over my body ♪ >> and doing the "sex" book and the idea that women are not the victims of sexual relationships,

but they can put notches in the bedpost same as men can. the reasons why the crime had taken place, the motivations, the passions that resulted in what happened, seemed to fascinate people. >> juju: it all starts in miami, florida. ♪ mama said don't worry about the weather about the weather ♪ >> my name is diane dimond. i am a veteran journalist reporter, and i've been covering the pamela smart case since the mid-'90s. pamela is one of three children. she has a sister and a brother. her mother, a homemaker who took homemaking very seriously. >> she was always there, and when we had a problem, we didn't have to wait till she came home from work, because she was home. >> my husband was a pilot. pam loved being with dad.

she was very close to him. she was very happy. she was a sweet child. she had a lot of friends. >> juju: kind of happy-go-lucky? >> i think so, yes. >> then her family moved to new hampshire. >> this is the american dream. a low crime rate, beautiful parks, greenery, people are friendly. then came time for college. pam smart decides to return to florida, and she enrolls at fsu. >> when i went to college, i worked three jobs, 52 hours a week, and graduated from college a year early. >> pamela smart was an overachiever. she received a degree in communication arts, and her goal was to be a television news reporter. >> my aspiration was to be a journalist and to be in the media. >> she wanted to be another barbara walters.

>> juju: didn't we all? >> don't touch that dial. you're listening to wvvs tallahassee 89.7 fm. >> she was a deejay on the college radio station, and she hosted not one but two different radio shows. >> i did the rock show at night. >> she loved van halen. ♪ go ahead and jump jump ♪ >> she loved motley crue. ♪ >> her moniker was, "the maiden of metal." >> i didn't go to college and go out partying. i worked all the time. >> juju: so, you skipped adolescence? >> i kind of skipped relationships. i had no boyfriend in college until i met my husband, and that was it. >> juju: in 1994, everybody wanted to hear from pamela smart. she gave her first interview to my colleague diane sawyer. >> the beepers are going to go off -- >> and we're rolling.

>> how did you meet gregg smart? >> i met gregg when i came home for christmas during a break one year. originally, i wasn't attracted to him, but i then became attracted him. >> what about him? >> he was very outgoing and always smiling. he seemed fun to be around. >> he was a rocker. the long hair, the attitude. she loved him. >> she said, "you know, mom, he's the one." we liked him, too. >> gregg and pam smart bonded over van halen, songs like, "you really got me." ♪ girl you really got me now ♪ >> "hot for teacher." ♪ i've got it bad so bad ♪ ♪ i'm hot for teacher ♪ >> gregg seemed very glamorous to her. he had this magnificent head of hair. >> that's the guy pam told me she fell in love with. >> so what does he do? he leaves town and moves to florida to be with pam.

>> there's something very innocent and very normal and very sweet about it. they fell in love. they dated for a while. he came down to florida to be with her. >> he wasn't interested in going to college. he was just interested in being with pam. >> juju: it's a relationship that heats up lightning-fast but fizzles out almost as quickly. >> you would never know that in less than one year, gregg smart would be murdered. ♪o is for the only one i see.♪ giant mcdonald's collectibles are popping up around the world... but where are they going? ♪extraordinary...e♪ your favorite mcdonald's collectibles... are now on collectible cups! get one of six when you order the mcdonald's collector's meal. missing out on the things you love because of asthma?

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♪ welcome, for the very first time, mr. and mrs. gregg smart. >> gregg and pam got married on may 7th, 1989. >> we gave them a very beautiful wedding. we looked forward to having grandchildren. >> pam smart was decked out like

princess diana. the big, poofy, white wedding dress. he was handsome in a steel-gray tuxedo. >> when you look at the photographs and the video of that wedding, i don't know that i've seen a happier couple. >> i was only 21 years old when i got married. i was very much in love with my husband. i thought that gregg and i would have a fulfilling future. that we would have a family and children. >> juju: do you still feel married to your husband? >> i do. and you know, it's weird that you would ask me that, because i was just filling out an application for something for in here yesterday, and it says, are you married? and i put yes. you know, and date of marriage. because i am still married. i'm widowed, but i'm still married. >> the couple moved back to new hampshire. >> they move into a very

well-to-do neighborhood in a beautiful condominium. >> derry, new hampshire's, nickname is "space town." it's nicknamed because it's the home town of alan shepherd, the astronaut. the poet robert frost was from there. >> something we were withholding made us weak. >> pamela got a job with the public school system, and she became the media liaison among about a dozen public schools. >> she's introducing students into television. she was able to write press releases. she was able to create content. this job by no means was what her career ambition was, but it was a stepping stone. >> i had a very good job. i made a lot of money for myself. i was 22 years old. i had a 40-something-year-old secretary. i had a job where i had four weeks' paid vacation. full medical, dental, all of that. i was my own boss. i really made my own money. >> gregg sort of settled down a

little bit. he cut off his long hair. he went into the respectable insurance business with his father. >> juju: so years later when pam smart's case would be infamous there are tv movies being made about it, there's a scene in "murder new hampshire" where gregg's haircut is made out to be the first sign of trouble. >> i remember exactly filming that scene on the doorstep. when gregg comes home, pam looks at him, hardly recognizes him. he's shorn, he's cut everything off. and instead of being pleased, she's absolutely horrified. >> you hair, what happened to your hair? >> well, the barber's still sweeping it up even as we speak. >> he's gotten a haircut because he's gotten a job. horrified she goes, "you cut your hair." and he says -- >> i may look like donald trump, but i still feel like jon bon jovi. >> she may have dated a rocker, but she married an insurance agent. >> real life sets in. he became an insurance salesman.

she got a good job. pretty soon, it was a routine. >> it seemed that this couple had everything going for them -- good jobs, a nice, rented home, good furniture. they even had a little dog. >> so on the surface, it looks great. it's just not going to turn out that way. >> gregg was working a lot, and he would work at night, go to people's homes, pitch insurance policies. and pam was left alone. >> when she first met her husband, he was kind of a rocker rebel, which is why she was drawn to him. and then after marriage, segued into this very traditional role. >> her mother later told me that during this period, it seemed like pam finally stopped focusing on just work and became more social, but a little immaturely social. she started to hang around with the high school students when she went to work every day. >> gregg's working all the time. pamela is hanging out with teenagers.

this marriage is getting bumpy. >> they were very young, which probably helped their marriage to deteriorate. clearly, there was a dynamic that wasn't working. >> in her first year of marriage, her husband had come home and talked to her about having an affair. and i think it crushed her deeply. >> i was very much in love with my husband from the time he was my boyfriend through when he was my husband, and he had an affair. and when that happened, i was devastated. i thought there was something wrong with me. i thought i wasn't good enough. >> so she was feeling like her husband had betrayed her. >> in that exclusive interview with diane sawyer, pam smart remembers the night her husband didn't come home from work. >> one night i went to bed, and i was expecting him to come home and when i woke the next morning, he wasn't there. he was out with a friend of his, and he had been drinking so he decided to stay at his house. and it turns out that that wasn't what happened. >> what did happen?

>> he had met someone, and he had stayed with her the night. >> was he sorry? was it a fight? what happened? >> i was very angry, and i was very hurt. >> did it change the marriage? >> well, i believe it made me less trustworthy. it had an effect on my self-esteem. i had thought originally that it was just, you know, he and i. and now i realized that someone could come between that, and i was scared of that. >> when he cheated on her, it obviously broke her heart and changed her, changed the marriage. that's the turning point in this story. his affair. >> pam had no idea that a chance encounter was about to change her world. forever. >> i fell in love with her. alright, sandworm's out of the basement and the furnace has been exorcised.

another progressive home and auto bundle fully protected from the unexpected. beetlejuice caused quite a ruckus, huh. -jamie! don't say his name. -beetlejuice? saying his name three times is how you summon him. riiight. what if i say other words in between? -does that restart it? -don't overthink it! or what if i broke it up into two parts like someone said what's your favorite bug -- beetle -- what's your favorite morning beverage? -j-- -j-- [ body thuds ] you're welcome. "beetlejuice beetlejuice," in theaters september 6th. don't miss the back-to-school deals at kohl's. like backpacks, lunch bags and more for 25% off. and vans for 40% off. plus, take $25 off when you spend $100. $15 when you spend $75. or $10 when you spend $50. and earn kohl's cash. kohl's. (buzz) look whose joining us for my favorite part of the day!

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you should feel that, like, right back here. oh, yeah, i felt that! good, that is so much better than last week. thanks, i've been doing 'em every night while i'm watching tv. - oh, what are you watching? it's a mystery. high quality care that meets you where you are. on may 1st, 1990, pamela is at a school board meeting. she gets home about 10:00. she goes to the front door, and she notices that the light is out. this is odd. and she opens the front door, and in the vestibule is her husband. >> she had arrived at her home

and began screaming that there was something wrong with her husband. >> she starts banging on doors. "somebody call 911, hurry, hurry, my husband, my husband." >> derry emergency. >> yes, um, emergency in 4e, it's, uh, summerhill condominiums, there's someone passed out. i don't know. a girl is hysterical in here. she just ran over. her husband is passed out. >> i was working as an investigative reporter in new hampshire. and the scanner radio goes off. and we understand that a young man has been murdered inside his condominium. >> the telephone calls that came to the derry police department all came from neighbors who heard her screaming and yelling. >> do you know why he's passed out there, ma'am? >> help is on the way. do you know why he's passed out? no, we don't know. >> pamela is outside. she's sobbing. she wants to know what's going on. is there a burglar in the house? is gregg okay? is he breathing? what's happening? >> pam smart found his body. he was in the entranceway to his condominium. he was sprawled out on the ground. >> the first thing that we noticed was the body of the

victim, gregory smart. there appeared to be a blue towel wrapped around his head. >> he's got a bullet wound in the back of his head. this looks like a mob hit. this is an execution. >> right away, police had no idea who could be responsible. >> in most cases, pretty quickly, the murders make sense. somebody's involved in gangs or drugs or there's a history of domestic dispute in their lives. in this case, here's this young man at the beginning of his life and career in insurance. he's not married a year yet to a lovely young woman, and he's dead. the police were groping for leads at the time. >> he had apparently expired, they determined, almost immediately. >> pam called the house and she was hysterical, and she screamed into the phone, "mom, come quick, gregg's dead." inside i was trembling and i thought, well, maybe there's been an accident. >> people in that house that

night told me that she was a wreck. she was an inconsolable mess. >> she did seem extremely shaken at the time. >> extremely emotionally distraught. >> she was soaking wet, her clothing, from sobbing. we were all a mess saying, how? why? is it true? >> in that first interview with diane sawyer, pam talks about the tragic night. >> what happened to gregg is the most horrible thing i've ever gone through in my life, and i'm still haunted every day by memories of what must have happened to him inside our house before he was killed. and although i wasn't there, i feel that because of that i'll never know how gregg was feeling at the time. i keeping thinking of how afraid he must have been and how senseless this whole tragedy

was. a lot of the times i still can't even believe that he's gone. >> gregg smart still has on the clothes from work. >> it looks like gregg must've walked into the middle of a botched, screwed-up burglary. >> we noticed that several things were moved. the stereo system had been ransacked. cds were laying on the floor. pillowcases had been ripped open. the stuffing had been removed. we found that the upstairs as well had been ransacked. the dressers had been gone through completely. >> however, police find that gregg still has his wallet. he still has a gold wedding band on his hand. pamela reported nothing much was missing except a few little pieces of her jewelry. >> this is not a usual burglary. usually, burglars in this region don't carry firearms or guns. they're not planning on any kind of confrontation at all. >> there was no forced entry at

the front door or the back door. no signs, no disturbances of someone breaking in. >> something just doesn't seem right here. >> kitchen chef's knife is stuck into the ground. >> they found a marijuana cigarette, a reefer, in his car. they think, well, maybe there's drugs involved. dead end. >> the next lead is that gregg might have had a gambling problem. they search phone records, and they find that he had been calling a gambling service. they go to atlantic city. maybe he owed somebody money. again, dead end. nothing there. >> every single lead that we got, all of them led to dead ends. >> at that point, they really are searching and asking the public's help. because they, frankly, don't have a break. and they need one. >> a dead body, killed execution style. that is a stunner for derry, new hampshire. >> and then a few days after

gregg smart's murder, something strange happens at his wake. a group of unidentified teenage boys show up. and everyone's thinking, who are those guys? and what's their connection to gregg? >> so, after weeks of investigating by the police and nothing is happening, nothing is popping, no new information, suddenly, out of the blue -- >> a man walks into the police station with a .38-caliber revolver. >> and he says, "this is my gun. and i think it was used in the and i think it was used in the gregory smart murder case." any , chewy has a taste for every tummy. all right at your fingertips. all the brands they love to devour. at prices you love to pay. delivered fast, right to your door. with chewy, make meal-time delicious every time. for low prices and fast shipping. for life with pets, there's chewy with everything.

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♪ part of me is missing, and that's gregg. >> he's gone forever. >> and he'll never be back. >> i remember it was a rather chilly day. it's always kind of very cool in new england, but this day seemed colder. you have all these young people, and they're all crying. i didn't want to be covering this funeral. i didn't want to be anywhere near it. throughout the day, i kept seeing -- he had this big, vibrant, beautiful smile. >> we can't sleep. i don't want to eat. i don't feel there's much left in my life. >> pamela smart is struggling, it seemed to me, to even make it down the walkway, she was crying so hard. it was a horrifically emotional moment. >> there is footage of me coming

out of the funeral crying so bad that my father's holding me on one side and my sister's holding me on the other. i did lose my husband that i did marry, and he did love me, and i loved him. >> there's no answers. and the police can't give them any answers. and that made their grieving that much more difficult. >> he didn't deserve this. >> all i want is the people who did this sent to jail forever. >> all of these people are just shredded, just racked with emotion over this horrendous thing. >> i'll never forget this. it's just a few days after gregg's murder. and my news director goes, "i guess you'll be interviewing pamela smart today, right? we'll have a story with you and her." i'm like, "yeah, that's going to happen." he was just joking with me. and, honest to god, like three minutes later, over the loudspeaker i hear, "bill

spencer, you have a phone call." it's pamela smart. >> pam gave her first media interview to a local television reporter six days after gregg was murdered. >> she said she wanted to talk to me about the kind of guy that gregg was. she wanted people to know the type of person he really was. >> at that time, she appears perfectly together. she has on a prim little outfit. her makeup is perfect. >> i feel like in a whole condominium complex like ours, somebody must have seen or heard something. everybody's saying they didn't hear or see anything. and i keep thinking that i'll see him walk in, but every day and every second that passes, i realize that that won't happen. and yesterday i went out to the cemetery, and that's kind of, you know, when it really hit me that he won't ever come back. >> she does appear introspective. she does appear to miss her husband. >> you know, it's awful to just

think about what happened in there. you know, the only comfort i have is that, you know, it just seems to have been a situation where gregg didn't know what was happening. and he just never knew, you know. and it was really quick. >> we usually don't like to bring animals or get dogs into your interview shot, but pam invited halen to come over. it's a little fuzzy dog. we did the whole interview with halen sitting right there next to us. she named her dog halen because she was a van halen maniac. >> sometimes i ask myself, like can i figure where the strength is coming from? but it seems like it's coming from inside. maybe -- you know, maybe it's a part of gregg that's helping me go on with everything. >> the interview kind of comes and goes with no fuss, no new witnesses coming forward, until -- >> the big break for police comes on june 10th, 1990, about six weeks after the murder.

>> out of the blue, a grown man walks into the police station. but it's not the derry police station. it's the seabrook police station. it's about 40 miles away where in walks this man. >> he's carrying a handgun in his hand and he says, "this is my gun, and i think it was used in the greggory smart murder case." >> they immediately call the investigators in, and this would turn out to be the major break in the story. >> and he proceeds to tell the investigators that he had this gun put away in his house. and when he went to retrieve it, it looked like it had been freshly cleaned, and he knew he had not cleaned it. so, how did this happen? >> the man tells police that his son's friend, a teenager by the name of ralph welch, told him that the gun may have been used to kill gregg smart. >> police immediately get the gun. they do a ballistics comparison.

the two bullets match up. >> the tests show that that gun is the weapon that killed gregg smart. it is probably the most important physical piece of evidence they're going to find. >> this is a big break for the police. >> that very same day, june 10th, 1990, the police haul in that teenager, ralph welch, for a videotaped interview. >> okay, it's june 10th and it's 15:24 hours by my watch. i'm detective barry cherowitz, and with me is ralph welch. >> so, ralph welch tells detective barry cherowitz about a secret conversation he had with the son of the man who turned in that right side 38-caliber revolver. >> so, we went in, and he told me the story how it happened and who all was there. >> so, police get ralph welch talking. and remember, he's a teenager talking to cops. and he spills it all. >> he told you the story about what?

about how what happened? >> he told me how they did it. >> how they did what? >> killed gregg smart. >> ralph welch tells police about learning of three teenage boys who went to gregg smart's house that night with the intent to murder him. these are the three boys that welsh names in that interview. billy flynn, pete randall, and vance, aka j.r. lattime. it's startling because they're just high school kids. lattime supposedly waited in the getaway car. >> and so they went there, and they broke in the place. and they set it up to make it look like a burglary. and i guess the guy tried to run or something. they grabbed him, they threw his dog in the cellar. pete said he held the guy's head while bill shot him. >> the juveniles that were involved in the murder, beginning with billy flynn, all of them had specific problems in their lives or with the police,

too. the seabrook police, they were familiar with these kids involved already. >> so, peter was the one that shot him? >> no, pete said he held his head. >> did he say how he held his head? >> no, he just said he held it, and bill pulled the trigger. >> but why? what was the alleged motive? welch seemed to know that too. >> did they tell you anything else about it? >> they're supposed to be getting some insurance money or something. this is just what they said from pam. like $500 or something. >> $500, is that what pam was paying them? >> that's what they said she was going to pay them. >> you're talking about pam. who's pam? >> the guy's husband -- wife. >> okay, pam smart? >> yeah. >> ralph welch is the first one who mentions pam smart's name. >> did pam pay him anything

else? >> no, he just said something about insurance money or something. he mentioned like $500 apiece. >> this videotaped interview with ralph welch blows the lid off the case. as police begin to dig, a clue may lie in, of all places, an amateur orange juice commercial that pam helped some of the high school students produce. >> since the beginning of time, man has enjoyed the taste of pure and natural florida orange juice. i'm a bee and i've bumbled buzz but this hive isn't big enough for the both of us. boo oh wow, what a buzzkill. and if you don't have the right auto insurance coverage,

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a heatwave, it's kinda chilly in here. oh, that's because i'm pre-cooling the house with the ac before 4 pm. then i'll turn our thermostat to a comfortable 78 or higher that way i could stay cool later. ooh, what about me? you're never cool. oh.

♪ the police have finally got a direction in which to take this investigation. >> bill pulled the trigger. they're supposed to be getting some insurance money or something from pam. like, $500. >> this explosive videotaped interview gives police a clear motive and implicates pamela smart in her husband's murder. yet it comes as no surprise to police, who already think that pam has been acting bizarrely from the moment they started talking to her. >> we met with her in an interview room, and she began immediately to tell us when she opened up the door, she saw that this must've been a burglary because there were speakers off the stand. it seemed kind of strange that she had keyed in on speakers missing from a stand. it seemed at the time that her

focus should have been on her husband who was laying there. >> police noticed that pam didn't seem to be very emotional when they finally got a chance to interview her just hours after her husband had been murdered. you weren't emotive enough for people's taste. what do you make of all that? >> well, i wasn't very emotional. i think i was in shock. >> you were the ice princess. >> right. and i think that people's perception is interesting. because -- like i was watching something where it was jfk's funeral, and jackie kennedy onassis was standing there, and she never shed a tear. and everyone was like, "she's so stoic." nobody said she was an ice princess. >> there was no proof that pamela smart had anything to do with this. but her actions really did make a lot of people, including investigators, step back and say, wait a minute, does she have something to do with this? >> my law enforcement friends

told me that after i interviewed pam smart, that she became even more of a prominent suspect in their eyes because of what she said in that interview. and they said specifically she talked about things she couldn't have known about. >> it just seems to have been a situation where gregg didn't know what was happening. >> she knew critical factors about what that crime scene looked like. how could she talk about what this apartment looked like when she wasn't allowed in there? i expected that she would be breaking down, and yet that emotion never came. >> sometimes i ask myself -- i can't remember i can't figure out where the strength is coming from. >> the weirdest part of the interview was we were talking about gregg, and she said something to the effect of, if you think about this, this couldn't have happened at a better time. >> you know, there's no better time in his life for this to happen. >> and i said, what? this couldn't have happened at a better time, because if you think about it, had we been

married for 20 years, i would've loved him that much more. i couldn't wrap my mind around that. >> when the murder first happened, you brought the media into your home and gave interviews. >> well, no, i talked to one person -- bill spencer. he was hounding every day, calling us, saying that he was running with the story that gregg owed gambling debts in atlantic city and he owed money to the mafia. and they were saying, are you going to give us a comment? because if you're not going to give us a comment, we're running with this story. and it was like, "wait a minute. my husband's not even buried. like, what do you mean you're running with the story?" because we went to atlantic city a lot. but he didn't owe anybody any money. and he wasn't killed because of that. i was pressured, basically, to try to defend him. so i did. >> i wouldn't say i pressured pamela smart into doing that interview at all. that call came to me, i didn't make the call to her that morning. she called me. >> pam has an answer for

everything the police called suspicious. so, who do you believe? >> the police definitely don't believe pam smart. there's a whole lot of smoke, but no fire yet. they have the videotaped interview from a high school kid who said she offered $500 for murder. they find her interview peculiar, but none of this adds up to murder until they make a stunning connection. >> so these boys, it turns out, are students at the same school where pam smart works. not only do these kids go to winnacunnet high school, where pamela smart works -- she's close to them because she's working on a school project with them. now there's a connection. there's a connection between the gun, the three boys, and pamela smart. pam meets billy flynn through this "project esteem" that she

is running at winnacunnet high school, where she talks to teenagers about their troubles, tries to help them with their issues. there's a giant dichotomy between derry, new hampshire, where pamela smart lives and seabrook, where billy flynn and these boys lived. seabrook is a gritty, working-class area. >> and in comes pamela smart. and she must have seemed like a fairy princess. >> so, billy flynn is 16 years old. he's attending winnacunnet high school. he plays guitar. he wants to be a rock musician. there's nothing imposing about this guy. he's a skinny, guitar-playing teenager. >> i met bill, who was kind of making me feel like i was the greatest thing on the earth. >> he was charming. >> he was. and i guess at that point i was so low that i needed that boost. >> you were vulnerable. >> yeah, i was. >> pam learned about a contest for high school kids in which they made a commercial about orange juice. so she got the kids together and

said, hey, you can win a trip to disneyland if you want to make this commercial. >> pam already knows billy because she's in this "project self-esteem" with him, and she asks him to be the cameraman. >> this put pam and billy in very close proximity. she directed it. he wrote the music for the commercial. ♪ we all need energy and vitamin c to keep in shape and stay healthy ♪ ♪ my friends and i start out the day the florida orange juice nutritional way ♪ >> i meet pam smart, and she's beautiful. she's intelligent. you know, she's an adult, and she likes me. >> as the police begin to dig, they can't but wonder about the strange hold that pamela smart has on these teenage boys, especially the long-haired kid, billy flynn. >> the cops soon discover that pamela smart has been having an

ongoing illicit affair with her teenaged student, billy flynn. >> but another student from that very same high school is about to betray pam with a secret recording. >> i'm afraid one day you're going to come in here, you're going to be wired [ bleep ], and i'm going to be busted. ♪ whoa nelly! iphone 15 with tons of storage. i really want one! yo! you've won 14 times on the lpga tour!

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>> they have a 22-year-old woman who's having an affair with a 16-year-old boy, and that boy is tied to the murder weapon. >> this young boy who was having an affair with her believes she has told him, the only way we can be together is if you kill my husband. >> we'll act like i just used him, went lurking through the school, looking for somebody to manipulate. it just -- really was not even like that. >> decades of denials. but now new, just this last summer, a last-ditch effort to change the narrative. >> pam is looking for the opportunity, the chance, to express remorse and discuss her transformation over 34 years from a 22-year-old to a thoughtful, accomplished, mature 56-year-old woman. >> a lot of people felt like they knew everything about me because they saw the movie. >> did you get the gun? >> no. >> i had to acknowledge for the first time, in my own mind in my own heart, how responsible i was. because i had deflected blame

all the time. it makes the headlines when three teens are arrested in the murder of gregg smart. billy flynn, vance lattime, and pete randall. >> the police have now identified the murder weapon. and they trace it back to those three boys. this is what enabled them, basically, to get these arrest warrants. >> there is a fourth suspect. raymond fowler was in the getaway car. fowler ended up being charged, but other being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he seemingly did not have much to do with the murder itself. >> remember, police had been told that these boys were mere pawns and that pam smart had put them all up to it. but what was the motive? why would they kill smart? >> i'm going to go straight to

pam's condominium and get her reaction. >> i'm totally devastated by this. i can't comment. >> i was boggled by her reaction. wait a minute. they've solved your husband's murder, and you're distraught? >> i thought, oh, my god, they have the wrong person. >> you thought billy was innocent. >> i -- i -- i thought there was no way. >> these three teenagers are in custody, but they are not talking to the police. >> normally you get three teens that are arrested for something this serious, one or all of them are going to sing. they're going to tell exactly what happened. because they're teenagers. >> and then out of the blue, a break in the case. police actually get an anonymous phone call. >> this is detective pelletier. >> there was a young man killed a couple of weeks ago. >> correct. >> in his home. from what i have heard, the wife had planned this. >> she said the woman had

planned it, and there was someone that knows all about this and her name is cecelia pierce. >> cecilia pierce is a teenager who goes to winnacunnet high school. she is the intern of pamela smart. >> they had worked together on that oj video. ♪ you still need energy and vitamin c to keep in shape and stay healthy ♪ >> police interviewed cecilia, and that recording appeared in a documentary for discovery id called "pamela smart: an american murder mystery." >> what kind of relationship do you have with pam? >> really close. she's kind of like a big sister. >> the revelations she makes are stunning. >> they were friends, and then they were having an affair. >> how did you find out about the affair? >> pam told me that she was in love with bill. and obviously, they were having

sex because i walked in on them. >> bill flynn was a juvenile, just 16 years old. cecelia tells police that one night she, billy flynn, and pam smart are watching a movie, "9 1/2 weeks." >> during the movie, pam smart and billy flynn go upstairs. cecelia follows and actually walks in on the two having sex. >> this is a bombshell. imagine what the police are thinking at this point. they have a 22-year-old woman who's having an affair with a 16-year-old boy. and that boy is tied to the murder weapon that was used to kill the woman's husband. these are big pieces of a puzzle they're putting together here. >> you were technically an adult, and he was underaged. >> absolutely. >> that relationship seems predatory. >> it was totally wrong. it was actually very difficult, because i had feelings for my husband. i loved him.

and i also had developed feelings for bill. and i knew that i couldn't continue like this. it wasn't, you know, going to work like this forever. it was only a short relationship. >> you've had several bombshells in this case, but another one is about to explode. cecelia reveals that she has heard the whole story -- the conversations between billy flynn and pam, and that she has heard that pam wanted to get rid of gregg. >> according to cecelia pierce, pamela smart planned the entire murder. she's the mastermind. >> we're going to conduct an audio surveillance of one pamela smart using a confidential informant. >> they decide to ask cecelia to get wired up, wear a taping device under her clothes.

>> and she goes to visit pam at her office. >> the trap is set. will pam fall in? >> hi, how are you? >> good. >> cecelia tells pam that the cops have called her in for questioning about the murder. >> pretty much, they -- they established that yeah, you had gregg killed. >> why, though? >> because they can't think of any other reason why bill and them would do it. >> yeah, but even if i asked somebody to kill somebody, you'd have to be [ bleep ] deranged to say, okay, i will. you know what i mean? whether i asked you to or not. >> as far as i can see it, bill did it because he loves you. >> she doesn't break into tears. she doesn't deny it. nothing. that's very telling. >> let me tell you how out of whack i was. okay, the day before this, i had a lawyer, and he calls me up and he says, "whatever you do, don't talk to her. because she's coming in, and she's going to be wired." >> that's an astonishing admission. she says her lawyer warned her,

cecelia's dangerous. she could be wearing a wire if you talk to her. and yet she still does. >> i'm afraid one day you're going to come in here and you're going to be wired for the [ bleep ] police and i'm going to be busted. give me some signal that -- if you ever come down to me and you're wired, that you're going to give me. >> why would you need that if, in fact, you did having in to do with it and you weren't part of all of this? >> now, remember, cecelia acknowledges that she knew in advance about the murder, and that's when pam issues what seems like an ominous warning. >> i'm just sick of lying, you know? >> well, you know, i'm just telling you, you know, if you tell the truth, you're going to be an accessory to murder. >> right. >> now, you know you're going to be on the witness stand. like, he's going to put you on there. and then he'll say, "did you know?" and you're going to say no. "did pam do it?" "no." if you tell the [ bleep ] truth, you're probably going to be arrested. >> pam is really concerned about cecelia now, so she's telling

cecelia to basically lie. >> and even if you're not arrested, you're going to have to go and you're going to have to send bill, you're going to have to send pete, you're going to have to send j.r., and you're going to have to send me to the [ bleep ] slammer for the rest of our entire life. and unfortunately, that's the situation you're in. >> sounds like you're in something. >> it does. my great, brilliant idea that i had was that i was going to go in and have these conversations with her to make her feel, like, more comfortable so she could tell me whatever she was gonna tell me. all i wanted to know was, did this guy really kill my husband? because i so -- more than anything i wanted this not to be true, because i felt responsible. >> ultimately the wire that cecilia pierce wore became the reason the police were able to go and arrest pamela smart. >> the good news is, we've got the person that murdered your husband. the bad news is, it's you. you're under arrest. ♪

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♪ date is august 1st, 1990. time is 10:00 a.m. seabrook, new hampshire. we're about to do a one-party consent via telephone between cecelia pierce and pamela smart. >> police are now ready to arrest pam smart, but first they have cecelia call her at her office one last time.

>> media center. >> hey. >> hi. cecelia? >> yeah. >> what going on? i was just thinking of you this morning. >> on that call, pam does confess to feeling guilty about something. she says she's feeling real remorse, but it doesn't have anything to do with her husband. >> you should've seen me when i hit a rabbit. i couldn't avoid it. it came totally bouncing down the road. a felt like [ bleep ] >> over killing a rabbit? >> yeah. >> well, it's road kill. i can't believe that you felt bad about running over a rabbit but not about gregg. >> i do feel bad about gregg, but i feel bad about the rabbit, too. >> that afternoon, the police arrive at pam's office, and she has a lot more to answer for than running over a rabbit. >> exactly three months from the day that her husband was murdered, on august 1st, 1990,

the police finally arrest pamela smart. >> pam, did you have anything to with your husband's murder? >> i was really not worried about it, because i knew that i hadn't done anything wrong. i'm thinking this is going to get straightened out. >> she was charged with accomplice to first-degree murder. >> but at this point, the case against pam is entirely circumstantial. the boys are in custody, but they are refusing to speak. >> they have convinced themselves that they will go free once they turn 18 if they just keep their mouth shut. >> they suddenly learn -- the prosecutors are telling them that, it doesn't matter that you're teenagers. we are going to try you as adults. >> they were looking at a lifetime in the penitentiary. suddenly, they got very chatty. >> they changed, and they became her accuser, and she became the person who planned it all. and then they were able to make a deal with the prosecution for

lighter sentences. >> sometimes to put the devil in jail, you got to go to hell to get your witnesses. >> my name is paul maggioto. i'm assistant attorney general. what did bill tell you? >> that he had -- that if him and pam were to get a divorce -- a divorce, that pam would get nothing. and that he hit her, treated her lousy. just, there was no way that bill and pam could continue their relationship with gregg alive. >> my recollection of vance lattime was, wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. you know, he had to sit there and wonder, "how did you let yourself get involved in this?" but he was extremely loyal to bill. >> did you ever go to pam smart's office with bill flynn? >> yeah. i went in, and when we went in she was on the telephone, she

put the phone on speakerphone so everybody could hear that she was in a fight with her husband, gregg. and they were screaming back and forth, and then when they hung up she goes -- she says to bill, now you see why i have to have it done. >> you listen to those interrogations, and you're struck by how they say pam was just determined to get this done. >> how often would you talk to pam about doing it? >> she would bring it up almost every day. she said she hated him. she started yelling at me, saying, well, if you're never going to do this, i want to know right now, so i can -- so we can end this right now, because i don't want to, you know, go on like this. >> billy flynn comes across as a kid trying to act like a man because he's in a man's relationship with pam smart, and i think he wants to stand up and prove to her that he's that guy. >> but finally, police get down to the deed itself in the interrogation room. >> what did you expect you were

getting out of this? >> i was told that i'd get $500. >> did bill tell you where the 500 bucks was coming from? >> he said it was coming from pamela smart. >> do you know how much insurance money pam was supposed to be inheriting? >> $140,000. >> so, a lot was made of this $140,000 insurance policy, that this was about sex and greed. >> right, which makes no sense whatsoever, because i had a very good job. i made a lot of money for myself at that age that i was. i mean, i guess everybody needs money, but i really made my own money. >> the teens lay it all out. they say pam told them to ransack the house and make it look like a robbery. >> okay, now, was there any conversation about the gun? >> uh, yes. she asked if we had it. and then bill said yes. >> the teens' interrogation tapes were textbook classic.

they revealed every detail. >> so did they concoct this, as teenagers frequently do, to protect each other? "yeah it wasn't us, it was pam." or did pam really help them? was she the mastermind of this whole conspiracy to murder plot? >> so now since the boys have turned, they have enough to take it to trial. >> the trial was a sensation. >> the local station, wmur, starts to preempt soap operas to cover this trial, because what they have is a soap opera taking place in the courtroom. >> spectators had been arriving shortly after midnight just to get a seat. >> what were you doing with your right hand? >> i had a knife in it. >> what happened next? >> i was supposed to cut his >> i was supposed to cut his throat. g huge. the bare minimum. anti-dandruff shampoo made with only nine ingredients -

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♪ 1990. well, that, you know, that means you've got the hair bands giving to give way to grunge out of seattle. bands like nirvana. ♪ here we are now, entertain us ♪ >> shows like "cheers" are popular. >> it's the a dog eat dog world, does that mean i'm wearing milk bone underwear? >> in new hampshire, the local station, wmur, starts to preempt soap operas to cover this trial. >> i dreamt i spent the entire evening with my sexy, gorgeous husband. >> the testimony you are about

to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, god? >> i do. >> i dreamt i spent the entire >> because what they have is a soap opera taking place in a courtroom. the case had all of those elements -- sex, and betrayal and murder. >> the trial was a sensation, in part because it was at the dawn of cameras being in the courtroom. and so people could tune into their local station and watch wall-to-wall coverage. >> it ushered in a whole new era, a whole new genre, for tv. court trials. >> and before you know it, it becomes nationwide news. >> the media coverage was intense. >> in new hampshire, pamela smart is on trial in what seems like the plot to a very bad movie. >> it was a tsunami of attention. most of it was negative. >> many people very likely had already formed an opinion of pam smart before the trial ever started. >> we did not have a jury that was sequestered, so, naturally

we were concerned that they were going to be affected. >> ladies and gentlemen, it was that woman who initiated, orchestrated, and directed william flynn to kill her husband. >> according to the state, billy flynn committed murder because pam smart put him up to it, luring him with money and sex. but according to the defense, billy flynn committed murder out of a jealous rage. >> what will be coming before you from prosecution witnesses will probably be one of the most vile concoctions ever assembled in one courtroom in the state of new hampshire. the main takeaway that we wanted the jury to get is that the state of new hampshire made a deal with the devil. >> the prosecutor made a plea deal agreement with pete randall and billy flynn, the two who had actually committed the murder. >> j.r. lattime who was the getaway driver, also cut a deal.

>> by pleading guilty and agreeing to testify, they had a chance at getting out of jail someday. and they took it. >> in a nice clear voice, would you please state your name so that everyone in the jury box can hear it? >> patrick allan randall. >> randall came across as a little matter of fact. some people described it as cold. >> i'd like to call your attention to may 1st, 1990. can you tell me what you did after school? >> i went to haverhill to pick up j.r.'s grandmother's car in order to go to derry to kill greggory smart. >> the goal is to show that pamela smart, with evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, masterminded this murder. >> can you tell us what you said to the defendant and what she said to you? >> she told me that she'd leave the back doors unlocked. not who hurt her dog. and that we could ransack the apartment, the condo, take what

we wanted. and wait for gregg to come home. and when gregg came home, we were to kill him. >> what else was said at that time? >> i felt that stabbing gregg would be a lot easier than shooting him. and told me that if i was to stab him, it'd probably get blood everywhere. and not to get blood on the sofa. >> it was downright strange to listen to him describe so matter of factly, so unemotionally, him participating in the killing of gregg smart. >> when gregg came into the door, he opened up the door and called to his dog. and bill grabbed him, pulled him in the house, and he was screaming and trying to run out. he switched and started asking about his dog. and i just told him his dog was okay, don't worry about it, you know, "we won't hurt your dog." >> randall says he then holds a

knife to gregg's throat and orders him to hand over the wedding ring he's wearing. >> he told me he couldn't give it to me. >> why? >> he said his wife would kill him. >> he just looked sinister. you know how a shark, his eyes don't look like they're living. looks like he's dead. >> what happened next? >> i was supposed to cut his throat. >> did you at that time? >> no, i did not. >> why not? >> i couldn't do it. >> why couldn't you do it? >> because of some of the things he said, and because i couldn't do it. >> what happened after that? >> bill took the gun out and shot him. >> he certainly came across as someone who didn't seem as bothered as you might think he would be for having been involved in this crime. >> what was your motivation for taking part in this murder? >> bill was my friend, and i didn't want to see him get caught committing murder, and there were financial gains. >> your peers have a huge

influence on what you do and don't do. but billy was probably admired. the power of teen friendships is very strong. you get a bunch of misguided kids who feel like they've shown up for one another, that they're helping one another. they may not truly understand that committing homicide crosses a line that should never be crossed. >> the state calls vance lattime. >> lattime was a bit different in that he wasn't there for the actual murder. he was in the car outside. >> pam had asked how she should -- how should she react when she comes home and finds gregg dead? she had asked one of us, should she scream, run house to house, or just run and tell the police? you know, how should she react? >> you get a sense of just how amateurish these teens really were. lattime says he made fun of randall and flynn for buying latex gloves that were too thin to even hide their fingerprints.

>> and why was that funny? >> because i figured for all this planning we were supposedly doing for this murder they want so bad, they'd have a better set of gloves than them. they decided to stop at a store and put scotch tape around each of their fingers and then put the gloves on over the tape. to prevent fingerprints. >> you know, in every big trial there's that one "aha" moment, the moment everybody remembers. with simpson it was the glove. in this case, it was pam smart and a white strapless bikini, posing suggestively on a bed. mon ♪ (man) yes! ♪ (vo) you've got your sunday obsession and we got you. now with verizon, get nfl sunday ticket

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while pamela smart was the big draw today, the case against her was built on the testimony of several teenagers. >> will you please state your name? >> uh, william flynn. >> how old are you, mr. flynn? >> um, 16. >> groupies at the pamela smart trial camp out for hours. >> if this story were a made for tv movie, and it surely will be, you might not believe it. >> nobody really understands that these guys were not angels. >> bear in mind, billy flynn's sidekick pete randall was involved in several thefts. and billy himself admitted to burglary.

>> when billy flynn took the stand, he seemed to be every bit the innocent virgin that the prosecution painted him in the opening statements. >> can you tell us the first time it was ever physical? she was saying, "are you going to kiss me?" and i said, "yeah." and she said, "yeah, well do i have to come over there and rape you?" and i said, "yeah." >> basically, if you believed billy flynn, you didn't need anything else. >> now take us back to her driving home that night. what happened? >> she started crying, and she's saying that the only way we'd be able to be together is if we killed gregg. >> bill flynn is supposed to be so innocent that he was manipulated by me, right? but at the same time, he was smart enough to manipulate his friends to go kill a person they've never even met. >> she said anybody that helped me could have anything in the house because she's insured.

the stereo system, bose speakers, jewelry. >> where'd the defendant say she'd be? >> at a meeting. so she'd have an alibi when it happened. >> i wanted to get up and -- and say, "stop lying." >> you think he lied to get a lesser sentence? >> absolutely. i know he lied. >> you know, in every big trial there's that one "aha" moment, the moment everybody remembers? with simpson it was the glove. in this case, it was pam smart and a white strapless bikini, posing suggestively on a bed. >> as if this super-sensational trial isn't crazy enough already -- my god. >> they were made between her and a friend, a girlfriend, for a modeling contest. they took photos of each other. >> those photographs made it into court, and the prosecution claimed that she had deliberately taken those to be seductive, to get billy flynn to do her bidding, to kill her

husband. >> she said she didn't want them, she was just going throw them out, and if i wanted them i could have them. >> when those photographs come in, you can see it kind of was overwill many for a teenage boy. this was a lot of the sex for a 16-year-old to have. you can get that sense it had a lot of influence on him, a lot of power over him. enough to make him kill. >> the prosecution said, see? here's more examples of pam using her wiles to keep this boy besotted by her. not at all. >> pam's side of the story is that she denies ever letting flynn see those photos. >> of all the people that took the witness stand, i think people were more moved by billy flynn than anyone else. >> i heard gregg walking out towards the door. >> how was it that you overpowered him? >> um, well --

he wasn't struggling very much, he was just asking what was going on. >> what'd you tell him? >> i just told him to shut up. i took the gun -- out of my pocket. >> then what happened? >> i cocked the handle back, and i pointed the gun at his head. >> after you pointed the gun at his head, what did you do? >> i just stood there. >> how long was it? >> a hundred years it seemed like. i said, um -- "god forgive me." >> after you said "god forgive me," what happened?

>> i pulled the trigger. >> he started crying, and i'm looking at the jury, and i'm seeing that they -- it looks like they feel sorry for him. i wanted to scream. >> he killed somebody, a defenseless man on his knees. execution style. yet he became sympathetic on that stand because he was so young, so emotional. and pam smart is sitting over at that defense table, she is the orchestrator. this was just a pawn. >> okay, so you're saying that pam made you kill gregg? >> i performed the act, yes, but i never would have done it if pam didn't tell me to. >> you were just like a machine or something like that? >> she was the first girl i ever loved. >> now it's the defense's turn to make their case, and in a bold move, they put pamela smart herself on the stand. >> the courtroom was hushed. she was, again, dressed in her prim and proper little outfit with her hair done perfectly

with a big bow. >> raise your right hand, please. >> she was insistent upon taking the stand. >> pamela ann smart. >> to make sure the jury knew that she did not kill her husband. >> why did you marry gregg smart? >> because i loved him. i wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. >> did you have any problems? >> gregg didn't come home one night. he told me that he had been -- he had been with someone else. >> how did you react to that? >> mad. >> because she had no expression, was immediately convicted as an ice princess and a cold-blooded killer. maybe if pam had cried, things would be different. >> the defense argument was that pamela smart fully admitted she'd had an affair with a teenage boy. >> well, i didn't set out to have an affair with him. but i did. >> pamela smart had broken the affair off and he got mad, and that was his retribution, to kill her husband in cold blood.

>> i told him that i didn't -- that i didn't want to have a relationship with him anymore, and he started crying. and he said that he couldn't live without me. >> it's a huge risk in any trial for the defendant to take the witness stand, because you're then subject to cross-examination by people who do it for a living. >> you said when you heard bill flynn was arrested, you said, oh, my god, they heard about affair. they arrested the wrong person. of course you went right to the police to straighten that out, didn't you? >> no, because i thought if the police knew that i had an affair with bill, they would automatically conclude that i was involved with the murder. and also, the police never asked me. >> oh, they didn't ask you! oh! >> i believe it was a huge mistake to put pam smart on the stand. she was destroyed. she was torpedoed on cross-examination. >> you made a lot of mistakes so far in this case. >> i sure have. yes, i have. >> was killing your husband one of those mistakes? >> no, it wasn't. >> was not getting a divorce, maybe that was one of the mistakes? you should've gotten divorced, but you didn't?

>> no. i didn't want to get divorced. >> will the defendant please rise and face the jury? >> i felt like the jury was either going to be hung or they were going to find me guilty. i thought there was no chance at that point that the jury was going to say i was innocent. >> juror number one, is the defendant guilty or not guilty? >> the verdict that's about to be handed down would be swift. the punishment, severe. and yet three years later, it was still must see tv when diane sawyer landed the only interview with the triggerman himself, billy flynn. >> bill flynn, we asked him, if there were one question he could ask you? >> i think i know what it's going to be. >> wait. what do you think it's going to be? f people over 50. it's lying dormant, waiting... and could reactivate. shingles strikes as a painful, blistering rash that can last for weeks.

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♪ ♪ will the defendant please rise? madam forelady, would you please stand. has the jury reached a verdict on each of the three offenses charged? >> yes, we have. >> the adrenaline starts running through your body, and your heart's pumping. >> after 13 hours of deliberation, it all came down to this. >> that's not that long. usually, quick verdicts mean a jury's going to acquit. >> how say you? is the defendant guilty or not guilty of the offense charged? >> guilty.

>> gregg smart's family let out a howl. on pam's side of the courtroom, her parents just sat in deathly silence, crushed. >> she went from finding out whether she was guilty or innocent to being sentenced within a matter of minutes. >> i am required and do hereby sentence you to the new hampshire state prison for women for the remainder of your life without the possibility of parole. mrs. smart, you're in the custody of the sheriff. this hearing is adjourned. >> our feelings were overjoyed. i just don't know how to explain it. i just -- i wanted to scream and holler and jump and everything. >> the entire smart family went to gregg's grave, and they knelt by the grave, and they formed a circle. and they told him it was finally over, that pam had been convicted, and she was going to go to prison. >> i remember diane sawyer interviewed pamela smart, and i was riveted. >> tonight, pamela smart.

her first interview since the arrest. >> even four years after the murder, the country was still transfixed. >> i didn't really consider bill to be a kid. i guess age-wise he was, but at the time, i just felt that he was more mature. >> she also got the only interview ever with billy flynn. >> i was still in love with pam. that trial was one of the hardest things i've ever done in my life, ever. >> i guess it's hard for a lot of people to think that you could do something like that for love. >> that was the whole world to me back then. i fell in love with her, then she was really all i had, you know? >> if you're in the hands of somebody who is older, they're going to have power to manipulate and to guide, and you can't always trust that. they're just not old enough to make that decision. the frontal cortex is not fully developed yet, so their ability to really think through

consequences for their choices is not in place. >> perhaps the most memorable moment in the diane sawyer special is when she tells pam smart about a revealing question she asked billy flynn. >> we ask him if there were one question he could ask you, what it would be. and here's what he said. >> i think i know what it's going to be. >> wait, what do you think it's going to be? >> "did you really love me?" no? >> if you could ask her one question, what would it be? >> whether or not she really ever loved me. you know, in hindsight, that might not seem like a very big deal to most people, but -- knowing that she had me do this and that i did go through with it and that she never really

loved me would probably kill me. i think i did really love him. >> if i were to ask you that question again now, does -- is there a more nuanced answer? did you love him? >> i feel like i loved him. i cared for him. i had feelings. you know, people act like i just used him, you know, and went lurking through the school looking for somebody to manipulate, and it was just -- really wasn't even like that. >> for this broadcast her mother, linda wojas, traveled to new york as part of her never-ending quest to win her daughter's freedom. you've been a tireless advocate. >> you would be, too, i would hope. >> do you think your daughter had a fair trial? >> no. >> why? >> the three things you're supposed to do from the u.s. supreme court -- when you have publicity attendant to her like -- as in her trial, 1,200 newspaper

articles screaming her guilt, that you put in safeguards. stay the trial while the publicity abates. you change the venue, and you sequester the jury. judge gray refused motion after motion to do any of that. >> i don't think it was necessary. i don't know about everybody else. but i got the sense that 12 good people, told not to watch tv, can pull that feat off without much difficulty. >> the reality is, however, that no matter where you try pam smart, a jury will likely convict her based on the evidence. she tried the appeals process. she exhausted every appeal. >> remember pamela smart? today, the u.s. supreme court turned down her final appeal. >> what happened with pam is that people see her as having committed a sin more than a crime. her sin was the affair with the young boy. >> pam's advocates and a growing chorus of feminists believe that pam smart got a raw deal because

she's a woman. >> it's an old, old sin. and it's the same one, you know, that goes back to adam and eve, where adam plea bargains with god and gets a reduced sentence and eve gets the book thrown at her. >> pamela smart has now been in jail for nearly three decades. but the boys finished serving their time. >> it sort of made me sick knowing that these kids were going to get out of jail long before pam smart ever would. in my mind, they were more guilty than she was. i mean, these are some bad people. >> even if you believe she's guilty, which i don't, the actual killers who said, "yes, we murdered him," are walking around and having their lives. and she deserves better. >> pam said to me, "you know,

mom, el chapo has the same sentence i do." >> it's one thing for pam's mom to rail against the sentence, but you might be surprised what the prosecute history put her in prison thinks now. >> i'm not making a personal statement about pam. what i'm saying is, i don't know if it's fair for anybody who's been sentenced to life without parole to be in jail for the rest of their life. i don't know if that's fair, okay? >> there's a petition online. >> clearly you're never going to give up? >> no. no, i won't. i just hope god lets me live long enough to see her free. >> but now it seems pam smart walking free just might happen sooner than later after all. >> my name is pamela smart. i've been incarcerated since 1990. >> thanks to this stunning change of heart. >> i had to acknowledge for first time in my own, you know, mind, in my own heart, how responsible i was.

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hills. guess what movie they play for the inmates one night? >> did you get the gun? >> no, not -- not yet. >> "to die for." and this fictionalized version of her life would now be taken as gospel. >> i just want to know when. >> it's just -- i don't -- i don't know. never, jesus. >> oh. look, if you don't know, i guess i'll have to find somebody who does. >> she felt that she got a lot of attention and a lot of abuse in prison as a result of that movie and people thinking they knew who she was. >> she was attacked by two inmates who thought she was a snitch. >> they beat her and really harmed her permanently. they fractured a orbital lobe in her eye. she's got a plate on the side of her face. >> it's been much easier for her in later years. >> she has been a model prisoner in every way. she's tutored other prisoners.

she's been part of the ministry behind bars. >> she's gotten two master's degrees. >> and in 2021, saying that she'd been fully rehabilitated, smart petitioned the governor of new hampshire, seeking a commutation of her sentence. >> dear governor sununu, without executive intervention, i will die in prison -- >> i was struck by the letters of support, and then i got to the memo that she personally wrote. >> although i never wanted nor asked mr. flynn to murder greg -- g -- >> she claimed she had no involvement with his death. how do i trust someone who hasn't even come to terms with her own responsibility for the death of her husband? >> the vote was for against giving her any kind of sentence relief. >> which brings us to pam smart's most recent effort this video released to the media

earlier this summer, a new approach after 33 years. >> my name is pamela smart. i've been incarcerated since 1990. >> taking responsibility. >> i found myself responsible for something i desperately didn't want to be responsible for. my husband's murder. >> pam, inside prison, began to undertake the really serious and hard work about taking stock of what led her to prison, and also coming to grips with her own culpability. acknowledging her responsibility. and saying, look, my husband's death, it's my fault. >> i had to acknowledge for first time in my own, you know, mind in my own heart, how responsible i was. because the truth of being so responsible was -- was very difficult for me. >> where is pam smart today? what has she changed? what has she improved? how has she made the case for

hen own commutation? one of the things is her more public acknowledgement of responsibility, and i think that's important. >> respectfully asking for the opportunity to come before you, the new hampshire executive council, and have an honest conversation. >> there's a question of someone's remorse. there's a question of someone's responsibility. there's also the question of who the person is today. it's a testament to her character, and she becomes a prime case for a sentence commutation. this is not someone who should perish in prison. >> reacting to smart's latest appeal, new hampshire governor chris sununu telling abc news, "new hampshire's process for commutation or pardon requests is fair and thorough. pamela smart will be given the same opportunity to petition the council for a hearing as any other individual." what does redemption mean to you? >> it means we don't define people by the very worst thing they've done in life. it means that people change, people grow, and they evolve over time.

>> deborah: that's our program for tonight. thanks so much for watching. i'm deborah roberts. >> david: i'm david muir. from all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, good night. dozens of seniors in oakland's chinatown are trying to figure out where they will be sleeping next. after a fire forced them out of their apartment building. good evening. i'm ama daetz and i'm dan ashley. >> thanks for joining us. now that fire happened early wednesday morning. the building is on ninth and madison and is now redtagged. many of the residents are pleading for help, including a place to stay, becaus