Susan Smith denied parole 30 years after killing her 2 sons

Susan Smith, a South Carolina woman who admitted to drowning her two children 30 years ago, was unanimously denied parole after she appeared before the board for the first time Wednesday.

“I know what I did was terrible. And I would give anything to go back and change it,” Smith, overcome with emotion, told the parole board via Zoom. “I love Michael and Alex with all my heart.”

On Oct. 25, 1994, Smith, then 23, strapped her sons — 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander — into their car seats and rolled the car into a lake near her home.

At first, Smith lied to police and said a black man carjacked her and kidnapped her sons. Smith’s husband believed her, and the young parents appeared on television to ask the suspect to bring the boys home.

On November 3, 1994, police confronted Susan Smith with her story and she confessed to the murders.

The board mentioned how her case took resources away from the law enforcement communities searching for her sons. Asked what she would say to respondents, Smith said, “I’m sorry I put them through that.”

“I wish I could take it back, I really do,” said Smith, now 53. “I didn’t lie to get away with it … I was just scared. I didn’t know how to tell them people who love them that they would never see them again.”

“I’m a Christian and God is a big part of my life. And I know he’s forgiven me,” Smith said.

Susan Smith’s ex-husband, David Smith, was emotional as he asked the board to deny parole.

“This was not a tragic mistake … She deliberately intended to end their lives,” he said, adding, “I have never felt any remorse from her for that.”

“She came pretty close to having me end my life because of the grief she brought on me,” David Smith said.

So far, his ex-wife has served “15 years per child,” he said. “It’s just not enough.”

David Smith’s current wife, Tiffany Smith, asked the board to keep Susan Smith in prison for life to give the family some peace.

She said her husband can’t get out of bed some days because of the pain.

“Michael and Alex were not given a chance at life. They were forced to the death penalty,” she said.

Tommy Pope, the prosecutor in the case, also asked the board to deny parole, saying, “Susan has always focused on Susan.”

“Susan made a terrible, terrible choice to choose a man over her family,” Pope said. “If she could have put David in the car, he would have been there too.”

“For the crime she committed … that sentence has not yet been reached,” Pope said.

At the trial, prosecutors claimed the young mother was having an affair and said her boyfriend broke off the relationship because of her children.

Susan Smith’s defense said she planned to kill herself with her children but left the car at the last second.

Pope noted Wednesday that “she wasn’t wet, she wasn’t hurt” when she ran for help.

The defense also focused on her mental health and her childhood; Susan Smith’s stepfather testified that he sexually abused her for years.

Susan Smith was convicted but spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison.

She is eligible for parole every two years beginning at the 30-year mark.

David Smith told the parole board Wednesday: “I will be here every two years going forward to make sure their deaths are not in vain.”

Susan Smith has been subject to disciplinary sanctions several times in prison, including for sexual encounters with correctional officers, possession of drugs and for giving contact information of family and her ex-husband to a documentary producer.

Susan Smith’s attorney, Tommy Thomas, told the parole board that this case is about “the dangers of untreated mental health.” He said Susan Smith had undiagnosed depression after her second son was born.

Thomas emphasized that she has no prior criminal history, and he said that if she is paroled, she would live with her brother.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.