Susan Smith, who is serving time in prison for the 1994 murders of her two young sons, is scheduled to have a parole hearing in early November, but if her ex-husband is involved, she could continue to serve her time behind bars.
The killer's mother has contacted her ex-husband, David Smith, to ask him not to oppose her release, but a family member told The Post that Smith is “100 percent opposed” to her release.
“He has every right to stand in her way and that's exactly what he's trying to do,” a Smith relative said. “She killed his children and gave him a lifetime of grief. If she thinks he'll just stand by and watch while she tries to get out of prison, she's more delusional than we thought.”
A spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardons said parolees can file a notice seeking early release, at which point the state will notify victims' families, who have the right to have a say in the decision.
In 1994, David Smith lost his two sons, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander, when his then-wife Susan plunged them into a lake while they were in car seats.
She has been incarcerated at Reese Correctional Facility in Greenwood, South Carolina for more than 20 years after the infamous murders of her two sons.
She is due for parole later this year and has told her family she believes she deserves to be released.
After Smith watched her sons slowly drown in John D. Long Lake in Union County, she falsely reported to police that black men had stolen her car and kidnapped them, sparking a door-to-door investigation in the predominantly African-American neighborhood.
Smith and her then-husband, David, appeared on national news daily, pleading for the safe return of their sons and sticking to her claim that her car had been taken.
But nine days later, Smith finally confessed that the whole story was fabricated and that he had drowned his sons in the lake.
Her motive was that she was having an affair with a wealthy man who didn't want children. The car was pulled from the water with both boys still in their seatbelts.
She was convicted of murder but avoided the death penalty, instead receiving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
Smith, who is serving a life sentence, has her first parole hearing scheduled for November 4, when the parole board will take David Smith's opinion into account when deciding whether to release her.
But Smith doesn't have her ex-husband on her side.
“The idea that she would even ask David for help is ridiculous,” the family said, “so the answer is no. No, no, no. Absolutely no.”
