Transcript of Susan Smith denied parole 30 years after killing her 2 young sons

Case number 34, Susan Smith.

A dramatic and emotional scene playing out in South Carolina today. Susan Smith, who hasn't spoken publicly in 30 years.

First of all, I want to say how very sorry I am.

Pleading she has served enough time for murder her two young sons by letting her car sink with them, strapped inside, and that she deserves to be set free.

I'll give you anything if I can go back and change it. And I I love Michael and Alex with all my heart.

Smith, serving a life sentence, but under South Carolina law, is off for parole after 30 years in prison, making her case to the seven-person parole board.

I am a Christian, and God is a big part of my life, and I know he has forgiven me.

Susan's ex-husband, David Smith, arguing just as emphatically that she should be kept behind bars.

That's only 15 years per child, her own children. It's just not enough. So I'm asking that you please do not hurt parole today.

Also in the room, family members and prosecutors from the original case who spoke for nearly 30 minutes, urging the board to deny parole.

Michael and Alex didn't get a chance in life. They were forced to death penalty.

Susan has always focused on what's best for Susan. And so the evidence that you have before you, I think, tells clearly that she has not focused on Michael and Alex.

Now she wants a chance to be free after only serving 30 years. No.

Life should mean life. Susan's lawyer arguing that her mental health should have been given more weight during the trial.

It is about the lack of the lack of diagnosis into mental health.

And it's about stigmas, old stigmas. After a short deliberation.

Ms. Susan Smith is denied for all the vote is unanimous.

David's speaking to reporters shortly after the decision.

For two more years, there'll still be justice for Michael and Alex.

Michael and Alex, two toddlers who were the center of a crime that captivated the nation. On October 25, 1994, car. Susan reported what we now know was a fake story, that a black man with a gun carjacked her and drove off with her son still strapped in their car seats.

I've been on the highway in this same area with my children at that exact same time. It just It's too close to your heart.

Susan and her husband appeared together pleading for their son's return.

Your mom and daddy are going to be right here waiting on you when you get home. I love you so much.

To the public, It was compelling stuff. To the authorities, they had questions early on.

Behind the scenes, law enforcement is focusing more on the discrepancies, and little by little, her story was unraveling.

Nine days after the boys went missing, investigators confronted Susan, and a 23-year-old confessed.

Everyone down, please. Susan Smith has been arrested.

And we'll be charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of her children, Michael, three, and Alexander, 14 months.

I almost dropped to my knees. I mean, did he say kill? How could she have two children and do them like that?

This was a stunning moment. The woman who's on TV calling for help, she's the one who did this?

There's an audible gasp, a silence of How can this woman go from victim to alleged murderer in just an instance? In her handwritten confession, Susan wrote that on the night of October 25th, she didn't want to live anymore. She detailed how she was in love with someone very much, but he didn't love her and never would. She says she decided to kill herself and her sons because she didn't want them to grow up without a mom. And drove to John DeLong Lake, got out of the car, put it in neutral, and let it roll down the boat ramp into the water with her boys inside. Tommy Polk, who spoke at today's parole hearing, was lead prosecutor in the case.

I tried a lot of horrible cases, but the media component just took everything you would normally have in a case and put it on steroids.

For months, the focus of the nation was on this tiny town, hitting a fever pitch just days before trial when investigators reenacted the crime. At trial, prosecutors played that reenactment and heard testimony from one of the divers, describes seeing a small hand against a car window at the bottom of the lake. The jury also heard from Susan's ex-lover, Tom Findlay.

You have someone saying, Yeah, I was in this relationship with her and broke it off because I didn't want the responsibility of children. I think it gives her the intent.

Susan Smith's main defense, her mental health.

They focused a lot on her background, on what had happened to her as a child, being molested, being troubled, and tried to portray her as something other than a monster.

The jury found Susan guilty after just two hours of deliberation.

There was a tough psychological component going here. People didn't want to believe that a mother could do that.

Now 53, Susan has been behind bars more than half of her life. The record shows she has not been a model prisoner.

She says, I want to have oral sex with you.

Alfred Roll was the guard at a prison in Columbia when Susan was an inmate there.

When I first met Susan, she was She was friendly. She was well-spoken, polite, confident.

They had an affair back in 2000. According to the court records, she also had sex with a second guard. Both men lost their jobs. The second man went to jail for three months, and Roe got five years probation. Susan was ultimately transferred to a different prison.

I truly regret what I done. She has shown through her abuse of the institutional rules and regulations that she's not ready to join society and be a law abiding citizen again. She doesn't deserve parole yet.

Records also show at least three instances of drug use and being sanctioned for mutilation. But she had no infractions for 10 years until this past August, when according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, she got into trouble for speaking to a filmmaker who deposited an undisclosed amount of money into her prison account.

Why should this board think that if we grant you parole, that you're going to go out and follow the rules and the laws of society? Well, this last infraction I was trusted the wrong person. This lady contacted me, and I trusted her. I thought she was going to do a documentary on mental health and the things that I have been found guilty of in here had been just stupidity.

Susan Smith is next eligible for parole in two years. David says he's not looking forward to reliving the pain.

I miss something very much, and I love them very much. I will be here every two years going forward to ensure that your death doesn't go in vain.