A New Hampshire judge has dismissed Pamela Smart's latest petition for a new trial. Smart is serving a life sentence for orchestrating her husband's murder by her teenage student over three decades ago. On Thursday, a Merrimack County Superior Court judge ruled her arguments lacked merit or had been addressed in previous appeals. Smart, who was 22 at the time, began an affair with a 15-year-old student who later killed her husband in 1990. The trial was one of the first to be broadcast live on television from start to finish. Her case inspired the book and film "To Die For."

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FILE - This image taken from video provided by Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord, N.H., shows Pamela Smart appearing remotely from Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Bedford Hills, N.Y., during a hearing related to her petition for a new trial, July 20, 2026, in Concord, N.H. (Merrimack County Superior Court via AP, File)

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FILE - Merrimack Superior Court Judge James Kennedy listens during a hearing for Pamela Smart, who is serving life in prison for orchestrating the murder of her husband, at the Merrimack Superior Court in Concord, N.H., July 20, 2026. (Grace Chai/Seacoast Media via AP, Pool, File)