KILLER MOM
Susan Smith spewed sick lies and cried over sons for 9 days in TV interviews before admitting she drowned them in lake
Smith's ex-husband gave a powerful testimony during her recent parole hearing
SUSAN Smith spewed sick lies and sobbed in public statements and media interviews in the days after she intentionally drowned her two young boys.
Smith, who is serving a life sentence for the October 1994 murders of her sons, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, was denied freedom at her first parole hearing on Wednesday after serving 30 years in prison.
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Under law, Smith will be eligible for a parole hearing every two years now that she has spent 30 years behind bars.
A five-person parole board unanimously denied Smith's sobbing pleas for freedom after hearing emotional testimony from her sons' family members and father.
Smith's case made international headlines when she claimed she had been carjacked in Union, about an hour east of Greenville, on the night of October 25, 1994, by a Black man who drove away with her two children in the backseat.
KILLER'S FAKE TEARS
For nine days, Smith spewed numerous lies and sobbed in multiple television interviews, pleading for the safe return of her children.
"Whoever has them, I pray every day that you're taking care of them," Smith told reporters at the time.
Smith claimed her alleged carjacker told her not to say anything or he would kill her, adding her children were crying in the backseat as the thief sped off, "They were screaming, crying."
But as Smith wept fake tears in public, investigators found several inconsistencies with the mom's claims.
Investigators said carjackers usually take the vehicle during their crime, questioning why the alleged thieves would let Smith out of the car and not the children as well.
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After an extensive nine-day search effort by police and dozens of volunteers, Smith eventually confessed that she was never carjacked.
Instead, Smith let her Mazda roll down a boat ramp and into the John D. Long Lake with her kids strapped inside.
When police pulled Smith's Mazada from the lake, the boys' bodies were found dangling upside-down in their car seats, one tiny hand pressed against a window.
Investigators recreated the incident and determined it took six minutes for the sedan to dip below the water's surface, completely submerging it.
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THE TRIAL OF SUSAN SMITH
Smith's trial began in July 1995, less than a year after the bodies of her boys were pulled from the John D. Long Lake in November 1994.
Prosecutors argued Smith, who was married at the time, was having an affair with a wealthy son of the owner of the business she worked at.
The man broke off their affair because Smith had two young boys, prosecutors said.
The defense team refuted the claims, arguing Smith was suffering from a mental breakdown and planned to drown with her children on the night she rolled her car into the lake.
"This is not a case about evil. This is a case about despair and sadness," Smith's attorney, Judy Clarke, said during the trial.
However, prosecutors said Smith murdered her boys to start a new life with her lover.
The jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting Smith on all counts.
Despite the prosecution's efforts, the jury voted against the death penalty and instead said a life sentence was appropriate so Smith could spend the rest of her life reflecting on the crime.
PAROLE DENIED
After serving 30 years in prison, Smith became eligible for parole due to South Carolina's law at the time of her trial.
On Wednesday, Smith sobbed to a five-person parole panel and expressed remorse for drowning her sons in October 1994.
"First of all, I want to say how very sorry I am," Smith, who was wearing a light blue prison jumpsuit, said via a court Zoom link.
"I know that what I did was horrible, and I'll give anything if I can go back and change it. I love Michael and Alex with all my heart."
Smith, who has had several infractions while in prison, told the parole board that she has learned from her mistakes.
"Why should this board think that she's going to follow the rules of society if you can't follow the rules of the institution?" the board asked Smith.
"I made a lot of dumb choices. I've learned from my mistakes," she replied.
Smith said she's a Christian and God had "forgiven her."
"I just ask that you show the same kind of mercy, and yeah, I guess that's it."
God gives us free choice, and [Susan Smith] made free choice that night to end their life.
David Smith
Before making their decision, the board heard powerful testimony from family members of Smith's deceased children, who begged the panel to deny her request for freedom.
Smith's ex-husband, David, fought back tears as he described the emotional toll he has endured over the last 30 years.
"It's been a tough 30 years. I'm not here to speak about what she's done in prison. I'm just here to advocate on Michael and Alex's behalf as their father," David, who pinned a small picture of his sons on his suit jacket, said.
"God gives us free choice, and she made free choice that night to end their life.
"This wasn't a tragic mistake. It wasn't something she didn't mean to do. She purposely meant to end their life."
David said that, over the past three decades, he had never felt any remorse from his ex-wife.
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"She changed my life for the rest of my life that night," the distraught father added.
"But what she did not only to Michael and Alex, she came pretty close to causing me to end my life because of the grief she brought upon me.
"I understand in [19]95 through the state's law, life in prison meant 30 years to life, and now that's different, but at that time, that's what counts. I understand that.
"But ultimately, to me, that's only 15 years per child. Her own children. It's just not enough.
"I'm asking that you please deny her parole today and hopefully in the future, but specifically today, do not let her out.
"I miss them very much, and I love them very much, and I will be here every two years going forward to ensure that their death doesn't go in vain."
I said her boys were in the car, her wedding gown was in the car, her wedding album was in the car, she thought in a nice package she could roll that away.
Tommy Pope
Tommy Pope, an attorney who was part of the prosecution team in the case against Smith in 1995, said the state sought the death penalty against the child killer, but the jury showed her mercy when they recommended a life sentence.
"The reason it was a death penalty case, you know the facts and circumstances, and I just felt strong that had the Black man with the toboggan committed crime, people would expect the death penalty," Pope said.
"If David Smith had committed the crime, people would have expected the death penalty.
"And I thought it was very important that the betrayal that Susan Smith showed that she be treated the same."
"They believed life was the greater punishment because she should have to reflect on what she did," he said.
Pope said when the jury rejected the death penalty, they thought a life sentence meant the rest of her life and not 30 years.
"Susan has always focused on Susan. I will believe, till the end of my life, that Susan made a horrible, horrible choice to choose a man over her family.
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"I said her boys were in the car, her wedding gown was in the car, her wedding album was in the car, she thought in a nice package she could roll that away.
"If she could've put David in the car, he would've been there too, in a nice package she could roll that away and start this new life with this new man."
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