Thirty years after Susan Smith was sentenced to life in prison for drowning her two toddler sons, she is preparing for her first parole hearing. The prosecutor in her case, Tommy Pope, believes that the jury intended for her to serve a full life sentence as punishment for the horrific crime. Susan’s former lover and a former director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections also spoke out on the case in a recent special on Fox Nation. David Smith, the father of the slain boys and Susan’s ex-husband, has expressed his hope that she does not get released, stating that she has always sought attention and manipulated people.
Attorney Eric Bland, who has represented victims of other notorious South Carolina murder cases, believes that Susan Smith has little chance of being granted parole due to her lack of contrition for murdering her children. He recounted an incident where Susan reached out to her ex-husband, asking him not to oppose her parole, but he was outraged by the request. Bland expects that David Smith will testify at Susan’s parole hearing to share the impact of the tragedy on his life. The NY Post reported that Susan has been unable to find any character witnesses to testify on her behalf, and there is little sympathy for her in the community.
A timeline detailing the events leading up to, during, and after Susan Smith’s crime shows the tragic sequence of events. Susan strapped her sons, Michael and Alexander, into the backseat of her car before letting it roll into a lake, drowning the boys. She then fabricated a story about a carjacking, which led to a nationwide search for the supposed kidnapper. After failing a polygraph test, Susan confessed to killing her sons. Her trial began less than a year after the murders, where the prosecution argued her motive was to please a man she was seeing, while the defense claimed she was suicidal.
While prosecutors sought the death penalty for Susan Smith, she was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in 1995. Over the years, she faced several disciplinary sanctions, including one for engaging in sexual activity with a prison guard. In 2024, she was charged for communicating with a victim or witness after speaking to a documentary filmmaker, leading to the loss of certain privileges. As she reached the 30-year mark behind bars, Susan became eligible for parole, and her first hearing is scheduled for November 20, 2024. It is unlikely that the parole board will make an immediate decision, with the announcement expected to be released on their website at a later date.
David Smith and Tommy Pope will attend Susan’s parole hearing to speak out against her release and remind the board of the impact her actions had on their lives as well as the community. The lack of remorse shown by Susan Smith over the years and her attempts to manipulate the situation indicate the complexity of the case. Despite the passage of time, the memory of the tragic loss of Michael and Alexander Smith remains fresh in the minds of those affected, with the hope that justice will be served and Susan Smith will remain behind bars for the rest of her life.
