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24 Years Later, Teen Who Killed Pamela Smart's Husband Given Work Release

AMPTON, N.H. (AP) — A man who was 16 when his adult lover recruited him and his friends to kill her husband in a case that inspired the Nicole Kidman movie "To Die For" has been moved to a minimum-security prison.

William "Billy" Flynn was transferred this past week to a facility in Warren, Maine, as part of a work-release program. Flynn testified against his former teacher, Pamela Smart, and said she wanted her husband dead so she wouldn't lose her condo, furniture and dog in a divorce.

Flynn pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Gregg Smart in May 1990 and was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison.

Pamela Smart, then 22, began a torrid affair with Flynn when he was 15. He was a student in a self-esteem course she had volunteered to teach at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, where she was the media services director.

Flynn testified that Smart helped plan her husband's killing to make it look like a burglary. He said she persuaded him and his friends to kill her husband so she and Flynn could be together. She also stood to gain $140,000 from insurance on Gregg Smart's life.

Gregg Smart was shot to death at the couple's Derry condo. According to testimony, a friend of Flynn's held a knife to Smart's throat, and Flynn — after asking God for forgiveness — fired a .38-caliber revolver. Two other friends were in a getaway car.

Smart died a week before he and Pamela could celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Pamela Smart was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, being an accomplice to first-degree murder and witness tampering. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and has maintained she had nothing to do with plotting her husband's murder.

The other three teens were convicted of murder conspiracy or accomplice charges.

The case was tabloid fodder and led to books and movies, including the 1995 film "To Die For," which starred Kidman as a television personality who enlists three teens to kill her husband.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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