Susan Smith has been denied parole for her conviction of killing her two sons.
Smith has served 30 years of a life sentence after being found guilty, The Associated Press reported.
She had driven her car into a lake in 1994 while her two sons — Michael 3 and Alex, 14 months — were strapped into their car seats.
She asked the parole board to allow her to be released, telling them she was “very sorry” before she started crying. “I know what I did was horrible and I would give anything so I could change it,” she added.
At the time of the boys’ death, Smith told police she had been carjacked by a Black man in Union, South Carolina and her boys were taken. The claim started a manhunt as Smith pleaded for her sons’ return, CNN reported.
Police didn’t believe her claims and eventually, she confessed to rolling her car into the lake with her children inside. She went on trial in 1995 for their murder and was convicted of two counts of murder, sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole, the AP reported.
Smith was having an affair with her boss’s son who had broken up with her because he didn’t want children, the prosecution said. Her defense attorneys said she was depressed and had planned to stay in the car with her sons.
Michael and Alex’s father, David Smith, told NBC News, “They can’t let her out. 30 years is just not enough. I mean, this wasn’t an accident, a tragic event where she didn’t mean to do it. She deliberately killed Michael and Alex.”
He also said, “I don’t think she’ll ever be rehabilitated. To me, she’s never been really sorry for what she did.”
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