Susan Smith, who killed her 2 young children 30 years ago, denied parole

By Chris Boyette, CNN

(CNN) — Susan Smith, who has served 30 years of a life sentence for killing her two young sons in 1994, was denied parole by the South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons on Wednesday.

Smith testified on her own behalf Wednesday, pleading for her release via video before the board in Columbia. She is serving a life sentence at Leath Correctional Institution after she confessed to rolling her car into a lake in 1994, killing 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex.

“I know that what I did was horrible,” she tearfully told the board.

The parole board asked Smith about previous disciplinary charges in prison and she said she had learned from her mistakes.

Smith ended her testimony asking for parole to be granted.

“I am a Christian and God is a big part of my life and I know he has forgiven me and I know that is by his grace and mercy …” Smith said. “And I just ask that you show that same kind of mercy as well.”

The hearing then continued with the board hearing from witnesses opposing parole for Smith, including David Smith, her ex-husband and the father of the boys. ”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,” David Smith said before the board.

Susan Smith, then 23, told police in November 1994 her sons were taken when she was carjacked by a Black man in the city of Union, South Carolina, in late October, setting off a manhunt and a barrage of media attention on the young mother.

But it would turn out Smith’s young children were already dead – strapped in their car seats at the bottom of nearby John D. Long Lake, authorities said.

Investigators were skeptical of Smith’s story from the start, and eventually, under questioning, she confessed to rolling her car into the lake, killing her sons. The story made international headlines, and her 1995 murder trial was followed closely around the world.

The prosecution pointed to reports Smith was having an affair with her boss’ rich son who had just broken up with her because he didn’t want children. Her attorneys argued she was suicidal and depressed and intended to stay in the car with her children.

Smith was convicted of murder. Now 53, she has served 30 years of her life sentence, making her eligible for parole under state law at the time of her trial.

Parole is only granted for violent offenders about 8% of the time, according to the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.

As of the first week of November, the Office of Victim Services had received at least 360 letters, emails and messages about Smith’s parole hearing, with all but six opposing granting her parole, the department said.

The parole board makes decisions at its discretion, and parole may be granted within moments of the hearing’s conclusion Wednesday, or the board could wait until a later time or date, according to the department.

Smith’s attorney, Tommy A. Thomas, did not respond to a request for comment before the hearing.

Smith’s three decades in prison haven’t been uneventful. She has faced a number of internal disciplinary charges.

Just months before her scheduled parole hearing, on August 16, Smith was charged with “communicating with a victim and/or witness” through telephone calls with a documentary filmmaker, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections.

Inmates in South Carolina are allowed to receive and send letters but cannot legally communicate with journalists in person or on the phone. CNN has sent a letter to Smith in prison seeking comment – but has not received a response.

Smith and the filmmaker discussed shooting the documentary after the parole hearing and how she would be paid for her participation, according to an incident report.

“They also discussed in depth the crime and the events leading up to and after it actually took place,” the report states. “Including such details as to what was in the trunk of the car when it went into the water and her plans to jump from a bridge while holding the boys but one woke up.”

The department said Smith agreed to provide the filmmaker with contact information for friends, family and her former husband. Money was then placed in her prison account, the department said. As a result, Smith lost her telephone, tablet and canteen privileges for 90 days, according to the department.

Smith was eligible to apply for parole because the jury at her trial in 1995 declined to hand down the death penalty prosecutors had sought.

“I thought the most stringent punishment we had would be the most appropriate punishment,” Tommy Pope, a former 16th Judicial Circuit solicitor who was the lead prosecutor on Smith’s case said before the hearing.

Some jurors he heard from after the trial believed a greater punishment for Smith would be to spend a lifetime in jail, thinking about her sons, Pope said.

But this hasn’t been the case, said Pope.

“Susan has been focused on Susan for 30 years, not Michael and Alex,” he said.

In 2004, David Smith told Larry King on CNN that he believed his ex-wife deserved the death penalty.

Speaking to Court TV last month, David Smith said he had forgiven Susan Smith but wanted justice to be served. He said he planned to remind the parole board “what Susan did” and “who were the victims in this case – certainly not her.”

His ex-wife “doesn’t deserve to ever be free again,” he said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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