Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman whose lies about killing her two sons shattered a small town, was refused parole Wednesday morning.
The five-member parole board of the state Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services unanimously decided to deny Smith’s request. Smith went before the board via video conference, which is a governor-appointed independent panel. Geraldine Miro, a member, served as interim warden of a prison where Smith was confined until recusing herself.
In rejecting her parole, board members highlighted the “nature and seriousness of her crime” as well as a negative “institutional record.”
Few anticipated that Smith, 53, would receive release just 30 years into her two life sentences for the killings of her boys, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months. The probation agency reported receiving 471 letters and emails about Smith’s release in the weeks leading up to her hearing. There were just six people who supported her release.
A tearful Smith pleaded for forgiveness, saying, “I want to express how deeply sorry I am. I understand that what I did was terrible, and I would give anything to go back and alter it.”
On October 25, 1994, Smith, 23, let go of the handbrake on her Mazda Protege and let it roll backwards into the chilly water of John D. Long Lake in Union County, South Carolina. Michael and Alex were both inside.
Tommy Thomas, Smith’s attorney, stated that untreated mental health conditions, including post-partum depression, motivated Smith’s actions the night of the killings. Smith had not recovered from her father’s suicide at the age of six, and she had attempted suicide several times, according to Thomas. However, the stigma around mental health care had kept her from receiving the necessary treatment.
Thomas claimed that when Smith was hospitalized for mental health issues, her mother informed people that she had strep throat. Smith lost contact with reality on the night of the murders and was unaware of the ramifications of her conduct, according to Thomas.
However, Smith’s mental state did not sway the Smith family, Michael and Alex’s relatives, who opposed her release.
“God granted us free will. “She made the free choice that night to end their lives,” said David Smith, her ex-husband and Michael and Alex’s father.
“She changed my life for the rest of my life that night… she came pretty close to causing me to end my life, but thank goodness that she didn’t.”
Today’s sentencing statutes in South Carolina mandate the full execution of a life sentence, with no possibility of release. However, when Smith received his conviction in 1995, the life sentence had a range of 30 years to life.
If she had been paroled, “Ultimately, that’s only 15 years per child—her own children,” said David Smith, who put a picture of his two sons on his lapel. “It’s just not enough.”
In addition to Smith’s crimes, the hearing focused heavily on her lies to her family and in media appearances 30 years earlier, which attracted national attention to Union County.
Smith claimed that a black male wearing a tobaggan, or beanie, carjacked her at a red light after killing her sons. The man allegedly pushed a revolver in her face, demanded her car, and promised not to harm her or her boys. He then took off with the guys in the automobile. Over the next few days, while police and volunteers searched tirelessly for her children and racial tensions increased, Smith pleaded on television for their safety.
“This was a global sensation,” said Kevin Brackett, a 16th Circuit counsel who assisted with the case prosecution. “This traumatized not just him (David Smith), but also Union and South Carolina. Her lie had gripped the entire county.
“How many Black men in red Mazdas got pulled over around the country?” Brackett inquired.
But skeptical law enforcement agents coaxed the truth out of Smith, who admitted to killing her sons nine days after reporting them missing. Divers located the automobile in John D. Long Lake. Brackett recalled the hush as a tow truck dragged the red automobile out of the lake, and he hoped that it was a different car.
“I didn’t lie to get out of it; I was just really scared,” Smith told the parole board. “I had no idea how to tell everyone who loved them that they would never see them again. I didn’t know how to tell David that he would never see his sons again.
However, few say they can now trust Smith.
“She lied and manipulated everyone, the entire world.” I believed it myself, and I wanted her to be telling the truth. Tiffany Smith, David Smith’s wife, added, “I’m sure whatever she told you today was also a lie.”
As more shocking revelations emerged, the hunt and Smith’s trial became a media sensation. Tommy Pope, now a Republican state lawmaker and House Speaker Pro Tempore from York County, claimed Smith murdered her children in order to begin a connection and a new life with a wealthy man in town who did not want kids.
Pope reiterated this during the hearing, despite Thomas’s claim that the court never proved it. Pope reported that Smith’s car had wedding attire and a wedding album. “It was a nice little package that she could just roll away. If David was in the car, she would have rolled him away too.”
Beverly Russell, a local Republican Party official, member of the Christian Coalition, and the governor’s nephew, assaulted Susan Smith at the age of 15.
Despite the absence of any charges, Smith’s parents separated. Russell eventually mortgaged his house to pay for Smith’s lawyer, and according to court testimony, her relationship with Russell lasted many years after she married David Smith.
Pope advocated unsuccessfully for the death penalty throughout his trial.
“I was convinced that people would have expected the death penalty if the act had been committed by a Black man wearing a tobaggan.” Pope stated that people would have expected the death penalty if David Smith had committed the crime.
“The jury was merciful to her. After the incident, one juror stated that they considered the life sentence to be the greater sentence.
Smith has committed several offenses while in prison, including narcotics possession, using another inmate’s PIN, and, most recently, conversing with a documentary company.
However, Thomas attempted to demonstrate a different side of Smith, citing her work as a math teacher, her love of art, and her involvement with the Jumpstart prison fellowship. Had Smith’s release occurred, she would have remained with her brother and pursued her studies in Christian counseling.
“I really think Susan is ready for parole now,” said Anne Currie, Smith’s sole supporter, along with her husband, retired Presbyterian minister Tom Currie. “She surrounded herself with a supportive and caring community. She will always be in mourning, and she has learned from it.
However, none of the seven people who came out against Smith’s release believed that prison could rehabilitate Smith sufficiently to warrant her release.
“She deceived her children and violated natural laws. “She should’ve been protecting them,” Brackett explained. “I believe she shouldn’t leave until the final survivor of Michael and Alex passes away, which is unlikely to happen during her lifetime.”
Lingering impact
Reporters from all across the country attended Wednesday’s hearing, highlighting how much the Susan Smith case continues to influence and define everyone involved.
“Union will always be the place where Susan Smith killed her sons,” the pontiff stated. “I will always be the Susan Smith prosecutor.”
For many, the wounds are deeper, and pain still appears in unexpected places.
Rebecka Smith French, Susan Smith’s former sister-in-law, stated that she looked up to Susan as an elder sister and now struggles to build friendships with women. She recently attempted to learn to scuba dive and told the parole board how she panicked underwater, pulling off her mask and believing she was going to drown.
“I knew in that moment that was the closest I’d ever come to experiencing what they (Michael and Alex) went through,” Smith French told me.
Tiffany Smith stated that she had witnessed her husband struggle to get out of bed on certain days and pondered how the event had caused them to be overprotective of their daughter, Savannah, who had two older siblings taken away from her.
“It has changed the way we look at life; it has changed the way we trust people,” said Smith’s wife, Tiffany. “To help give this family some peace, it would be best if Susan stayed behind bars and in prison for the rest of her life.”
While most offenders appear before the parole board once a year, Smith will be unable to appear for another two years due to her sentence for a serious offense.
“I miss them so badly. “I adore them,” stated David Smith. “I will be here every two years going forward to ensure that their death will not be in vain.”