COLUMBIA, S.C. — Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who killed her two young sons nearly 30 years ago, was unanimously denied parole at a hearing Wednesday with the Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services.
The nearly hour-long hearing ended with a quick vote to deny her plea for mercy.
Smith is serving a life sentence at Leath Correctional Institution near Greenwood after having been convicted in July 1995 for the murder of her children.
Smith made her case 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.”
Her crime shocked the nation when she confessed to strapping her sons — Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months — into her car and rolling it into John D. Long Lake in Union County in 1994. Initially, Smith claimed a Black man had carjacked her vehicle with the boys inside, a lie she maintained for nine days before admitting to the murders.
David Smith, the father of Michael and Alex, was equally emotional in asking for her plea to be denied. “I’m asking that you please, deny her parole today, and hopefully in the future, but specifically today,” he said, adding that he plans to attend each parole hearing to make sure Michael and Alex aren’t forgotten.
State Rep. Tommy Pope, who back then was a prosecutor and worked the Smith case, recalled Tuesday the emotional weight of the investigation and trial. "You know every case is tragic in its own measure, and you know obviously the lives of two children, I think it was amplified by the 9 days Susan Smith kept asking for a return of the children, after asking people to find an African American carjacker, so it was difficult in that regard," Pope said.
Earlier this year, Smith faced internal disciplinary action for misusing prison communication systems. According to an incident report, Smith discussed conducting interviews or possibly filming a documentary. She was found guilty at an internal hearing on October 3 and lost her phone, tablet, and canteen privileges for 90 days.