The killer's mother, Susan Smith, appeared before the South Carolina Parole Board on Wednesday, sobbing and pleading to be let out of prison.
But formally she still refuses to take full responsibility for her actions, blaming her recent conviction on an attempt to capitalize on her notoriety in prison, and contacted documentary production I blamed it on someone else.
She also claimed that her past convictions for misconduct in prison were not her fault.
Smith, 53, who attended meetings remotely via Zoom, said she lost touch with reality when she killed her sons Alex and Michael by strapping them into car seats and drowning them in a South Carolina lake. told the board of directors.
“I am a Christian and I know that God has forgiven me,” Smith told the parole board, pleading with the parole board to “show the same mercy.”
Wiping her tears with a tissue, Smith acknowledged the pain she had caused. “I just want to say I’m really sorry,” she said.
Smith's attorney told the committee that prosecutors were wrong about the motive behind her suspicions. “This is a mental health story,” he said. “This wasn't about another man. She was mentally ill.”
Smith has spent 30 years in prison since receiving a life sentence for the 1994 incident. This will be her first parole hearing.
