Overview
- A New Hampshire judge is considering a habeas corpus petition filed in January by Pamela Smart and has allowed her to attend the hearing remotely from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility.
- State lawyers asked the court to dismiss most claims, arguing they were raised on appeal before or could have been raised earlier and are therefore procedurally barred.
- Smart’s attorneys say prosecutors used inaccurate transcripts of secret recordings that added words not audible on tape and that media attention and flawed jury instructions prejudiced the trial.
- Smart was convicted in 1990 as an accomplice to the killing of her husband after a televised trial; co-defendants pleaded guilty and were paroled in 2015 while she serves life without parole.
- The judge’s decision will determine whether the court will examine Smart’s substantive constitutional claims on the merits or end the challenge because of prior rulings and procedural limits.