UNION, S.C. (WLOS) — Notorious child murderer Susan Smith will find out if her time behind bars for the death of her two boys will be cut on Wednesday, Nov. 20.
Smith is scheduled to appear virtually before the SC Board of Paroles and Pardons from Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood.
OVERWHELMING OPPOSITION TO PAROLE SC MOM SUSAN SMITH WHO KILLED HER KIDS
She became eligible for parole on Nov. 4, 2024, after serving one-third of her life sentence. A jury sentenced Smith to life in prison after she confessed to rolling her car down a boat ramp and into the lake with her 3-year-old and 14-month-old boys in the backseat.
The incident shined a national spotlight on the quiet city of Union after Smith concocted a lie that led to a nationwide search for her children.
WATCH ‘UNTHINKABLE: THE SUSAN SMITH STORY’
The case
Smith appeared at the McCloud’s home on Oct. 25, 1994, falsely claiming that while she was stopped at a traffic light near Monarch Mill, a Black man climbed into the passenger seat of her car, put a gun in her side, and demanded she “shut up and drive.” Smith told authorities that the man told her to stop the car and get out miles down the road. Smith claimed she asked to get Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months, out of the car, but the man told her he didn’t have time and drove off.
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Nine days later, Smith confessed she had planned to take her own life that night, but as she stood on the boat ramp and John D. Long Lake, she couldn’t go through with it. Still, she sent the vehicle with the boys strapped in their car seats down the ramp into the water then ran to the McClouds with her lie.
In 1995, a jury found her guilty of two counts of murder for her sons’ deaths and sentenced her to life in prison.
Father to speak at parole hearing
Michael and Alexander’s father, David Smith, told News 13 he didn’t plan to prepare comments for Wednesday’s hearing and planned to speak to the board from his heart.
“I want to look at them. I want to look them in the eyes the whole time I’m speaking to them, and hopefully that will make an impact,” Smith said.
David Smith planned to tell the SC Board of Paroles and Pardons that the 30 years Susan Smith has served is not enough punishment for the two young lives she took.
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Among the items the Board of Paroles and Pardons can consider is Susan Smith’s record before and during her incarceration. In August 2024, Smith was charged with communicating with a victim and or witness after having telephone calls with a documentary filmmaker about her crimes. She’s also been charged with possessing unauthorized drugs and mutilation during her incarceration, as well as having sex with two corrections officers.
On Wednesday, 50 South Carolina inmates are scheduled for parole hearings. Susan Smith is one of nine charged with murder up for consideration.
First appeared on abcnews4.com