COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Susan Smith will be up for parole next month, nearly 30 years after she was convicted of rolling her car into a South Carolina lake and drowning her two sons who were strapped in their car seats.
Smith, 53, is serving life in prison after a jury decided not to sentence her to death in her 1995 murder trial. Under the law at the time, she is eligible to ask to be released after serving 30 years in prison.
Smith's hearing is scheduled for Nov. 20, the state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services said Monday. Parole hearings are done virtually in South Carolina with the inmate joining by a video call from prison.
Parole in South Carolina is only granted about 8% of the time and is less likely on an inmate's first appearance before the board, in notorious cases or when prosecutors and the families of victims are opposed. Smith falls in all of those categories.
“The jury believed she got a life sentence and that’s what she should serve," said Tommy Pope, the lead prosecutor in Smith’s trial who is now the Republican Speaker Pro Tem of the South Carolina House.
“Secondarily, I would point to her conduct in prison to show, unfortunately, what a juror hoped would happen, that she would be remorseful and think about those kids. She’s proven she’s only thinking about Susan Smith,” Pope said.
Smith made international headlines in October 1994 when she said she was carjacked late at night near the city of Union and that a man drove away with her sons inside. Smith, who is white, said the carjacker was Black.
For nine days, Smith made numerous and sometimes tearful pleas asking that 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex be returned safely.
But the whole time, the boys and Smith's car were 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. And other bits and pieces of the story did not make sense.
Smith 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 water 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 and Smith decided that was how she would solve that problem.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty and the 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. A jury convicted Smith but decided she did not deserve the death penalty.
Smith's lawyers said she was remorseful, suffering a mental breakdown and intended to die alongside her children but left the car at the last moment.
Smith's 30 years in prison have been eventful too. South Carolina prison rules don't allow broadcast interviews, but Smith has frequently written reporters, true crime aficionados and potential suitors who then talk about the letters publicly.
She unsuccessfully tried to appeal her conviction, saying her husband David Smith abused her. He adamantly denied it and authorities said there was no proof.
“During the ensuing 30 years — again, it’s hard to believe it’s come this quick — she’s had sex with guards. She's got attention for her social media opportunities. She has got sugar daddies that can’t wait till she gets out, help support her," Pope said.
Pope said David Smith plans to join him to oppose his ex-wife's parole.
In an interview with Court TV, David Smith said he struggles to remember his sons. He said while he has forgiven Susan Smith, that doesn't take away the fact that she killed their children and deserves to spend more than 30 years in prison for it.
“You have no idea of how much damage you have done to so many people,” David Smith said in the Court TV interview. “In my capabilities I am going to do everything in my power to make sure you stay behind bars."
Pope plans to tell the parole board that when jurors rejected the death penalty, they thought a life sentence meant the rest of her life and did not think she could be released after just 30 years.
Pope expects Susan Smith to make her own argument to the parole board. He thinks she will try to use the same sympathy and difficulty to believe a mother would do something like this to her children to convince the board to grant her parole.
“She’s been rehearsing what she’ll say to the parole board for 30 years," Pope said.
This May 24, 2021 mage provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows Susan Smith. (South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP)
FILE - Susan and David Smith address reporters Nov. 2, 1994 during a news conference in Union, S.C. (AP photo/Mary Ann Chastain, file)
FILE - In a July 9, 1995 file photo, visitors walk down the ramp where Alex and Michael Smith were drowned in a car in 1994 in Union, S.C., by their mother, Susan Smith. (AP Photo/Lou Krasky, File)
Convicted murderer Susan Smith is escorted from the Union County Courthouse on July 28, 1995 by corrections officer Felicia Mungo after being sentenced to life in prison for the drowning deaths of her two boys last October. (AP Photo/Lou Krasky)
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's capital was largely paralyzed on Monday and the rest of the island braced for the fourth night of a massive blackout that has generated a handful of small protests and a stern government warning that any unrest will be punished.
Hurricane Oscar was crossing the island’s eastern coast with winds and heavy rain after a night that saw protests of several dozen people in urban neighborhoods like Santos Suárez and central Havana.
Some banged pots and pans in the streets, while others demonstated from their balconies. Protesters who said they have no water blocked at least one street with garbage.
The Cuban government has a low tolerance for civil disobedience and President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on national television Sunday that “we're not going to allow any vandalism, or let anyone disturb people's tranquility."
The prolonged nationwide blackout followed a massive outage Thursday night, part of energy problems that led to the largest protests in Cuba in almost 30 years, in July 2021. Those were followed by smaller local protests in October 2022 and March 2024.
It's all part of a deep economic crisis that has prompted the exodus of more than half a million Cubans to the U.S., with thousands more heading to Europe. That has led to a reduction in the availability of rationed food for those who do not leave.
Power remains relatively cheap but increasingly unavailable. The Cuban government has said that it’s producing 700 megawatts when peak demand can hit 3 gigawatts. About 50% of Havana has intermittent power.
Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in a news conference he hoped that more reliable electricity will be restored by Monday or Tuesday morning but classes remained closed through at least Thursday.
He said that Oscar, which made landfall on the eastern coast Sunday evening, will bring “an additional inconvenience” to Cuba's recovery since it will touch a “region of strong (electricity) generation.” Key Cuban power plants, such as Felton in the city of Holguín, and Renté in Santiago de Cuba, are located in the area.
Oscar later weakened to a tropical storm but its effects were forecast to linger in the island through Monday.
Many of Havana's 2 million people resorted to cooking with improvised wood stoves on the streets before their food went bad in refrigerators.
In tears, Ylenis de la Caridad Napoles, mother of a 7-year-old girl, said she is reaching a point of “desperation.”
The failure of the Antonio Guiteras plant on Friday was the latest problem with energy distribution in a country where electricity has been restricted and rotated among different regions at different times. The status of Cuba's other power plants was unclear.
People lined up for hours on Sunday to buy bread in the few bakeries that could reopen.
Some Cubans like Rosa Rodríguez had been without electricity for four days.
“We have millions of problems, and none of them are solved,” said Rodríguez. “We must come to get bread, because the local bakery is closed, and they bring it from somewhere else.”
The blackout was considered to be Cuba’s worst since Hurricane Ian hit the island as a Category 3 storm in 2022 and damaged power installations. It took days for the government to fix them.
The Cuban government announced emergency measures to slash electricity demand, including suspending school and university classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling nonessential services.
Local authorities said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residential air conditioners. Later, the blackout got worse because of breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained, and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.
Cuba's energy minister said the country's grid would be in better shape if there had not been two more partial blackouts as authorities tried to reconnect on Saturday. De la O Levy also said Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Russia, among other nations, had offered to help.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Residents play dominoes during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents endure the heat during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents pass the time during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents line up to buy bread during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A resident walks his bicycle during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents pass the time at the malecon during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents pass the time during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A resident walks his bicycle during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A resident looks at his cell phone on the street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Residents protest by banging pots and pans in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
