Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who confessed to drowning her two children 30 years ago, was unanimously denied parole after she appeared before the board for the first time on Wednesday.
“I know what I did was horrible. And I would give anything if I could go back and change,” Smith, overcome with emotion, told the parole board via Zoom. “I love Michael and Alex with all my heart.”
PHOTO: Susan Smith appears during a parole hearing on Nov. 20, 2024 with zoom in South Carolina. (POOL)
PHOTO: Susan Smith appears during a parole hearing on Nov. 20, 2024 with zoom in South Carolina. (POOL)
On Oct. 25, 1994, Smith, then 23, strapped her sons — 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander — into their car seats and let the car slide into a lake near her home.
At first, Smith lied to the police and said that a black man kidnapped him and kidnapped his son. Smith’s wife believed him, and the young man’s parents appeared on TV to plead with the suspect to bring the boy home.
On November 3, 1994, police confronted Susan Smith about her story, and she confessed to the murder.
PHOTO: In this 1995 photo, Michael Daniel Smith and Alexander Tyler Smith are shown at a sign as people lay flowers near the lake where the children drowned. (William Campbell/Sygma via Getty Images, FILE)
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The board described how her case took resources away from the law enforcement community looking for her son. Asked what he would say to the respondents, Smith said, “I’m sorry that I did that.”
“I wish I could take it back, I really do,” Smith, now 53, said. “I didn’t lie to get away… I’m just scared. I don’t know how to tell the people who love him that he’ll never see him again.”
“I’m a Christian and God is a big part of my life. And I know he’s forgiven me,” Smith said.
PHOTO: Susan Smith appears during a parole hearing on Nov. 20, 2024 with zoom in South Carolina. (POOL)
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Susan Smith’s ex-husband, David Smith, was emotional as he asked the board to deny him parole.
“This was not a tragic mistake. … He deliberately set out to end his life,” he said, adding, “I never felt any remorse from him.”
“He was close enough to causing me to end my life because of the grief he brought me,” said David Smith.
So far, her ex-husband has devoted “15 years to each child,” she said. “It’s just not enough.”
PHOTO: In this 1994 booking photo, Susan Smith is shown. (Brooks Kraft/Sygma via Getty Images, FILE)
David Smith’s current wife, Tiffany Smith, asked the board to keep Susan Smith in prison for life to give the family peace.
She said her husband couldn’t get out of bed for days because of the pain.
“Michael and Alex didn’t get a chance to live. They were forced to the death penalty,” he said.
PHOTO: A grieving David Smith (wearing a red tie & picture of his sons on his lapel) weeps amid a crowd of mourners as he leaves the funeral for his sons Michael & Alex. (Thomas S England/Getty Images)
Tommy Pope, the prosecutor in the case, also asked the board to deny parole, saying, “Susan is always focused on Susan.”
“Susan made a terrible and terrible choice to choose a man over her family,” Pope said. “If they can put David in the car, he’ll be there too.”
“For the crime committed … the punishment has not been meted out,” the Pope said.
PHOTO: In this 1994 file photo, law enforcement officials, one in scuba gear, speak as they comb the bottom of the water for the car of Susan Smith, who confessed to drowning her sons Michael & Alex in their car at John D. Long Lake. . (Thomas S. England/Getty Images, FILE)
At trial, prosecutors denied the young mother had had an affair and said her boyfriend broke up with her because of the children.
Susan Smith’s defense said she planned to kill herself with her children, but left the car at the last second.
The Pope noted on Wednesday that “he was not wet, he was not injured” when he ran for help.
Defense also focuses on mental health and childhood; Susan Smith’s stepfather testified that he abused her for years.
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Susan Smith was convicted but not sentenced to death and sentenced to life in prison.
He is eligible for a parole hearing every two years starting at age 30.
David Smith told the parole board Wednesday, “I’ll be here every two years going forward to make sure that death is not in vain.”
PHOTO: This May 24, 2021 photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows Susan Smith. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP, FILE)
Susan Smith has faced disciplinary action several times in prison, including for sexual encounters with correctional officers, drug possession and for providing contact information for her family and ex-husband to documentary producers.
Susan Smith’s attorney, Tommy Thomas, told the parole board that this case is about “unaddressed mental health hazards.” He said Susan Smith suffered from undiagnosed depression after her second son was born.
Thomas insisted that he has no prior criminal history, and said that if he is released, he will live with his brother.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Susan Smith denied parole 30 years after killing 2 sons The original appeared on abcnews.go.com
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