Not so Smart

The Pamela Smart case was one of the first ones covered gavel-to-gavel on Court TV, but that was before I had cable, so I didn't see it. But since then, I've read three or more true-crime books on her case and numerous articles on her case, as well as, of course, Joyce Maynard's "To Die For," a slight fictionalization that was later made into a movie starring Nicole Kidman. Since then, the years have gone by, and other cases -- OJ, Laci Peterson, Jon Benet -- have pushed her off the front pages. Pam Smart has now spent almost half her life in prison (she was 22, it's been 15 years), and the kids she had do her evil bidding have spent at least half their lives behind bars.

I have to say, I believe Pam Smart did exactly what they found her guilty of, manipulating Billy Flynn and his friends into killing her husband. The layers of trust she betrayed are infinite -- killing her husband, who surely trusted no one in the world more than he did her, making murderers out of students at the school where she worked. I am certain that she and her family look at other criminals, who killed more people, perhaps, or in more torturous ways, and put her sentence up against them and find hers more outrageous. But to me, her sentence of life without parole is about as fair as you can get. Her dead husband Greg isn't getting parole, nor is his family. So hearing she's been denied a pardon hearing doesn't shock me one bit.