Keene Equinox

Issue date: 4/20/06 Section: Justice in New Hampshire

Media Credit: AP Mark Sisti, left, talks with prosecutor Jeffery Strelzin on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2006, in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Nashua, N.H.

Fifteen years ago Pam Smart's murder trial, which began on March 4, 1991, rocked a small New Hampshire community and sent the nation reeling. As details of the plot to kill her husband, his execution style shooting and Smart's affair with the 16-year-old trigger-man unfolded; media from around the globe converged upon the small Exeter courtroom with a gold-rush like abandon. Although it was the events surrounding the murder which inspired a B-list movie, the trial itself was more than worthy of its own cinematic feature.

The drama and controversy that would come to epitomize the Smart trial, and specifically the jury, began before the opening statements were even read. Prior to the trial, defense attorneys requested the case be moved to another location and that the jury be sequestered due to the intense media coverage.

Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Douglas Gray denied both motions. The defense argued, and continued to do so throughout and following the trial, that too many people in the area knew the story and already had pre-conceived notions of Smart's guilt.

Lending credibility to these claims were the dismissals of many prospective jurors from the first day of the selection process, Feb. 19, 1991, for their previous knowledge of the case, and in one instance, according to a Feb. 21, 1991 New Hampshire Union Leader article, the removal of seven prospective jurors for discussing the upcoming trial and its publicity.

Further examples of discussion during the selection process were found on documents acquired from the Rockingham County Superior Court, in which excerpts from perspective juror's interviews and affidavits were listed. One of the statements included read, "Lisa Weber stated that in the jury pool room prior to trial, there were general discussions taking place concerning the Pamela Smart trial and a general consensus developed that Pam Smart was guilty."

This same section continued "Furthermore, Maureen Blake stated that there were newspapers present in the jury pool room and a discussion of the Pamela Smart case was taking place."

Despite the uneasiness of these comments, and their direct link to the violation of Judge Gray's orders not to speak about the case, the most alarming excerpt found in the document was, "Juror, Donald Vigue, said he heard one elderly woman who he believed sat on the deliberating jury say Pame (sic) Smart was guilty."

Continued...

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