A mother who killed her two children in a notorious 1994 slaying has been denied parole after board members saw through her fake tears.
Susan Smith, 53, drowned sons Michael, three, and Alex, 14 months, in a South Carolina lake.
She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after thirty years.
On Wednesday, she made her case for release to the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services board and even pretended to cry during the hearing.
However, her request was rejected after a unanimous decision by all seven members of the board of directors.
NewsNation’s Brian Entin reported that Smith held a tissue and repeatedly dabbed her eyes, despite there being no sign of tears.
“First of all, I want to say how sorry I am,” Smith began, Entin said.
She told the board she is a Christian and knows God has forgiven her, and asked that they “show the same kind of mercy.”
Susan Smith, who murdered her two children, ‘pretended’ to cry during her hearing before her bid for freedom was rejected
Smith, 53, drowned sons Michael, three, and Alex, 14 months, in a South Carolina lake in 1994
Smith said she lost touch with reality when she killed her children and did not fully understand her actions.
The board heard from Smith virtually from the Leath Correctional Institute in Greenwood, where she is incarcerated.
The boys’ father, David Smith, told the hearing that his son’s murder was “not a tragic mistake” as he urged them to keep the killer behind bars.
“That’s only 15 years per child,” he said of Smith’s sentence. ‘Her own children. That’s just not enough. I ask that you deny her parole today and hopefully in the future.”
Smith’s attorney argued that the killings were a “mental health story” and had nothing to do with another man, as previously alleged.
Prosecutors alleged that Smith killed the boys after the man she was having an affair with, Thomas Findlay, broke up with him because he didn’t want children.
It’s been 30 years since the mother reported her two sons missing and told officers the boys had been taken by an unknown black man during a carjacking.
She cried on national television as her husband begged for their safe return.
The seven-member board heard Smith virtually from the Leath Correctional Institute in Greenwood, where she is incarcerated
Smith was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years
In 1994, Smith reported her two sons missing and told officers the boys had been taken by an unknown black man during a carjacking.
Her story was quickly taken apart and Smith confessed to strapping the two boys into their car seats and watching the car roll into the lake.
The boy’s father, David Smith, and former prosecutor Tommy Pope plan to testify against her release.
Pope told the board that he had sought the death penalty for Smith and that the jury was not aware that life in prison meant Smith could apply for parole.
Smith needed at least a two-thirds majority of the panel to approve her application and must meet pre-release conditions, including employment, residency, programming and inmate status. Hof TV.
Data shows the board grants about 8 percent of parole requests for violent offenders.
Smith’s attorneys told the board that she teaches math in prison and enjoys arts and crafts.
He failed to mention the litany of jailhouse violations against Smith during her time behind bars.
Just weeks before she was eligible for parole, Smith was convicted of a disciplinary charge.
However, investigators soon found holes in her story and uncovered the eerie truth.
Prosecutors alleged that Smith drowned her sons after beginning an affair with a man who did not want children. But during her parole hearing, her attorney framed the crime as the result of a “mental health saga”
The Department of Corrections revealed the convicted child killer was seen talking to a filmmaker behind bars in August this year.
But her history of offending goes back even further and includes drug use, self-harm and incidents where she was caught having sex with guards.
In February this year, DailyMail.com revealed the jailed mum had had phone sex with a man half her age.
The boys’ father, David Smith, said Hof TV that he has forgiven his ex-wife but does not want her released from prison.
“You have no idea how much damage you have caused to so many people,” he said.