Susan Smith is to appear before the parole board 30 years after killing her 2 sons

On By Littum

A South Carolina woman who admitted to drowning her two children 30 years ago will appear before a parole board for the first time Wednesday to make a case for her freedom.

On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith, then 23 years old, strapped her sons — 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alexander — into their car seats and rolled the car into a lake near her home.

In this 1995 file photo, Michael Daniel Smith and Alexander Tyler Smith are shown on a sign as people place flowers near the lake where the boys drowned.

William Campbell/Sygma via Getty Images, FILE

In this 1994 file photo, law enforcement officials, one dressed in scuba gear, speak as they comb the waterbed for the car of Susan Smith, who admitted to drowning her sons Michael & Alex in her car in John D. Long Lake.

Thomas S. England/Getty Images, FILE

At first, Smith lied to police and said a black man carjacked her and kidnapped her sons. Smith’s husband believed her, and the young parents appeared on television to ask the suspect to bring the boys home.

On November 3, 1994, police confronted Susan Smith with her story and she confessed to the murders.

This booking photo from 1994 shows Susan Smith.

Brooks Kraft/Sygma via Getty Images, FILE

Prosecutors claimed the young mother was having an affair and said her boyfriend broke off the relationship because of her children.

Smith’s defense said she planned to kill herself with her children but left the car at the last second. The defense also focused on her mental health and her childhood; Smith’s stepfather testified that he sexually abused her for years.

Smith was convicted. She was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison.

Smith, now 53, is eligible for parole every two years beginning at the 30-year mark.

This May 24, 2021 photo provided by the South Carolina Department of Corrections shows Susan Smith.

South Carolina Department of Corrections via AP, FILE

Susan Smith has been subject to disciplinary sanctions several times in prison, including for sexual encounters with correctional officers, possession of drugs and for giving contact information of family and her ex-husband to a documentary producer.

Susan Smith’s ex-husband, David Smith, plans to attend the parole hearing, he told Court TV in September.

“I just wanted to tell her – that you have no idea how much damage you’ve done to so many people,” he told Court TV. “I would tell her that I will do everything in my power to make sure you stay behind bars.”

Grief-stricken David Smith (wearing a red tie and a picture of his sons on his lapel) cries amid a crowd of mourners as he leaves the funeral for his children Michael & Alex.

Thomas S England/Getty Images

David Smith remarried and had two more children.

He told Court TV that he is clinging to the few memories he has of Michael and Alexander.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.