The South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services decided on Susan Smith’s release from prison on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
After a protracted hearing during which Smith appeared from prison via Zoom, the committee rejected Smith’s appeal. Smith fulfilled the required 30 years of her life sentence for the murders of her two kids, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex, according to ABC News, meaning she will be eligible for parole hearings every two years.
“I know what I did was horrible,” Smith stated during the hearing. And if I could go back and make a change, I would do anything. I have a deep affection for Michael and Alex.
When first responders discovered her boys in the bottom of a lake still strapped into their car seats, she apologized and said, “I wish I could take that back, I really do.”
She stated that she was “just scared” because she “didn’t know how to tell the people that love them that they’d never see them again.”
David Smith, her ex-husband, disagreed with Smith’s assertions, arguing that the 30 years she had served in prison amounted to “15 years per child,” which he considered “not enough.”
Every two years, he promised to show up for her parole hearings “to ensure that their death doesn’t go in vain.”
The board was informed by David Smith’s present wife that Michael and Alex were denied a chance at life. The death penalty was imposed on them.
Smith’s lawyer contended that following the birth of Alex, she had depression and other “untreated mental health” issues.
According to WCSC-TV, David Smith stated, “God gives us free choice, and she made free choice that night to end their life. This wasn’t a tragic mistake, wasn’t something that she didn’t mean to do. She purposely meant to end their life. I have never felt any remorse from her for it. She’s never expressed any to me. I’ve never seen it on paper.”
In 1994, Smith pushed the automobile into a lake while her sons were strapped inside, killing them. Declaring that she had been carjacked and that all she wanted was for her boys to return home, she appealed for assistance from the public and reported the youngsters missing.
In 1995, Smith was found guilty of murder after a trial. She was given a life sentence with the chance of parole by a court.
At the time, Tommy Pope was the case’s primary prosecutor. He stated, “I look at the case itself as a failure on my part because, unfortunately, she did not get the death penalty.”
Smith’s defense team did a “tremendous job,” according to Pope. They manipulated public perception and media coverage to shift the focus from Susan the monster to Susan the victim. They said that Smith had an undiagnosed mental disorder and was still coping with childhood sexual trauma. He allegedly informed Smith that her boys kept them apart while she was having an affair with another man.
Smith utilized narcotics and engaged in sexual contact with guards while incarcerated.
In an interview with Court TV, David Smith declared, “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you stay behind bars.”