Susan Smith denied parole 30 years after drowning sons by rolling car into South Carolina lake

COLUMBIA S.C. (WSPA) — A parole board denied on Wednesday a request for parole for Susan Smith, a South Carolina woman who in 1994 made national headlines after she rolled her car into a lake with her children, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, strapped in their seats.

The parole board voted 5-0 against granting Smith parole. One board member recused themselves from the hearing to avoid any potential conflicts of interest. During Smith’s hearing, which lasted more than half an hour, the parole board heard from Smith, her lawyer, and two people who advocated for her release.

Smith made her case for freedom by video link from prison. When she began to speak, she started to say she was “very sorry,” then broke down in tears and bowed her head.

“I know what I did was horrible,” Smith said, pausing and then continuing with a wavering voice. “And I would give anything so I could change it.”

The parole board asked Smith about the law enforcement resources used to try to locate her children. In reply, she told the board she was “just scared” and “didn’t know how to tell them.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know, I know that’s not enough; I know it’s not,” Smith said.

In her final statements, Smith appealed to her Christian faith, saying, “God is a big part of my life.” God has forgiven her, Smith said, and she asked the same of the board. “I ask that you show that kind of mercy, as well.”

The board also heard from several people who were against granting Smith’s release, including her ex-husband David, members of his family, and solicitors who tried Smith’s case. Everyone who spoke wore a photo of Michael and Alexander, who were 3 years old and 14 months old at the time of their deaths, respectively.

“This was a death penalty case,” said Tommy Pope, the solicitor who prosecuted Smith’s case.

Pope said the state believed had David or the Black man Smith originally claimed had stolen her car with the boys inside been convicted for killing Michael and Alexander, they would have been given the death penalty.

Kevin Brackett, current solicitor for York and Union counties who worked Smith’s prosecution said Smith betrayed her husband and her children with her actions.

“His hopes and dreams were dashed and I hope you dash hers today,” he said.

The last person to speak at the hearing was David Smith, who advocated for keeping Susan Smith in prison.

“God gave us free choice. And she made a choice that night to end their life. it wasn’t a tragic mistake, it wasn’t something she didn’t mean to do,” he said. David said he’s never seen remorse from Smith for her actions, and he doesn’t believe she should be granted parole.

David said he understood the state law at the time of Susan’s case meant life in prison really meant 30 years to life.

“But ultimately to me…it’s just not enough,” he said.

With Wednesday’s hearing complete, Susan Smith will be eligible for parole every two years until she is released or dies in prison. David said he would be there every two years to ensure his children aren’t forgotten.

This was the first parole hearing for Smith, 53, who is serving a life sentence after a jury convicted her of murder but decided not to sentence her to death.

Smith made international headlines in October 1994 when she said she was carjacked late at night near the city of Union and that a Black man drove away with her sons inside. The claims by Smith, who is white, played into a centuries-old racist trope of Black men being a danger to white women and stoked concerns about crime that were prevalent in 1990s America and remain so today.

For nine days, Smith made numerous and sometimes tearful pleas asking that Michael and Alex be returned safely. The whole time, the boys were in Smith’s car at the bottom of nearby John D. Long Lake, authorities said.

Investigators said Smith’s story didn’t add up. Carjackers usually just want a vehicle, so investigators asked why would they let Smith out but not her kids. The traffic light where Smith said she had stopped when her car was taken would only be red if another car was waiting to cross, and Smith said no other cars were around. Other bits and pieces of the story did not make sense.

Smith ultimately confessed to letting her car roll down a boat ramp and into the lake. A re-creation by investigators showed it took six minutes for the Mazda to dip below the surface, while cameras inside the vehicle showed water pouring in through the vents and steadily rising. The boys’ bodies were found dangling upside-down in their car seats, one tiny hand pressed against a window.

Prosecutors said Smith was having an affair with the wealthy son of the owner of the business she worked at. He broke it off because she had the two young sons.

Smith’s crime not only traumatized her family, prosecutor Kevin Brackett said, but further affected the state of South Carolina and the country at large who were “fixated” on this “global sensation.” Her allegation that a Black man kidnapped her children also led to other Black men in the area being wrongfully pulled over as police searched for a “fictitious man,” he said.

The 1995 trial of the young mother became a national sensation and a true crime touchstone even though it wasn’t televised by a judge who worried about what cameras were doing to the O.J. Simpson murder trial going on at the same time. Her lawyers worked to save her life, noting that Smith’s father had killed himself and that her stepfather was having sex with her along with the owner of the business where she worked.

From prison, Smith can make phone calls and answer text messages, many coming from journalists and interested men. Those messages and phone calls were released under South Carolina’s open records act, something Smith didn’t initially realize could happen. She said the invasion of her privacy upset her along with the public revelation that she was juggling conversations about the future with several men.

Some men know why she is famous. Others are more coy. One told her he was going to use the dates of her birthday and those of her dead sons when he played the Powerball lottery. Others chatted about their lives and sports. Many promised her a home on the outside and a happy life.

Smith also had sex with guards. And she violated prison policies by giving out contact information for friends, family members and her ex-husband to a documentary producer who discussed paying her for her help, according to former prosecutor Tommy Pope.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.