N.H. man convicted of murder gets sentence reduction hearing

BRENTWOOD, N.H. – The man who as a teenager shot and killed Pamela Smart’s husband 17 years ago has been granted a hearing to ask for a sentence reduction.

William Flynn was 16 and having an affair with Smart when he shot her husband in Derry in May 1990. Flynn is serving his time at the Maine State Prison.

Earlier this year, Flynn wrote to a New Hampshire judge asking for a reduction of his 28-years-to-life sentence. He is not eligible for parole until June 2018. The hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 25 in Rockingham Superior Court.

Members of Gregg Smart’s family say they plan to attend to argue against any sentence reduction.

“How am I ever going to have peace of mind when that kid gets out of jail?” said Dean Smart, Gregg’s brother, earlier this fall. “You can’t do that. It’s fundamentally flawed.”

State prosecutors also oppose any sentence reduction.

“Suspension of the defendant’s sentence would be directly contrary to New Hampshire’s truth-in-sentencing policy,” Assistant Attorney General Kirsten Wilson wrote in her objection, “and would frustrate the reasonable expectations of the victim and his family.”

Since his incarceration in 1992, Flynn has had six behavioral infractions – three for being out of place, and one for having excessive personal items in his cell.

“The defendant’s conduct while in prison demonstrates that his rehabilitation is not, in fact, as complete as he asserts,” Wilson wrote.

Now 33, Flynn reasoned that he had spent more time in prison than out of prison. Since being imprisoned, he has gotten married, become certified as an electrician’s assistant and is so trusted by guards that he is allowed to do electrical work on sensitive security systems.

Several prison guards wrote letters in support of Flynn, one calling him a “breath of fresh air that whips through the awful stagnation here” and another commenting, “I would be proud to have him as a neighbor.”

Even if Flynn does win a sentence reduction, he would still have to persuade a parole board to release him.

Vance Lattime, who drove the getaway car the night of Gregg Smart’s murder, was granted a sentence reduction of three years in 2005. Lattime had served 13 years of his 18-year sentence.

Raymond Fowler, who was in the car with Lattime but did not go inside the condo, was paroled in 2005. A fourth man, Patrick Randall, who held Gregg Smart down while Flynn shot him, remains incarcerated.