Child Killer Susan Smith Shut Down By Parole Board — Transcript

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1. 0:00I want to say how very sorry I am Susan
2. 0:05Smith who drowned her two young Sons
3. 0:08Michael and Alex in a lake more than 30
4. 0:10years ago appears in front of the South
5. 0:12Carolina parole board for the very first
6. 0:14time asking to be released while the
7. 0:17boy's Father David Smith and prosecutors
8. 0:19argued against parole this wasn't a
9. 0:22tragic
10. 0:23mistake wasn't something that she didn't
11. 0:27mean to do she purposely
12. 0:32meant to end their
13. 0:36life I've
14. 0:38never have felt any remorse from her
15. 0:41for I have the emotional testimony and
16. 0:44the board's decision to keep Susan Smith
17. 0:47Behind Bars welcome to Crime fix I'm
18. 0:49anginette Levy For the First Time Susan
19. 0:52Smith appeared in front of the parole
20. 0:53board in South Carolina and it didn't go
21. 0:56as she had hoped Smith was convicted of
22. 0:58murdering her young son three-year-old
23. 1:00Michael and 14-month-old Alex drowning
24. 1:03them in John D long Lake in October
25. 1:051994 Smith claimed a black man carjacked
26. 1:08her in Union County South Carolina and
27. 1:11took her car with Michael and Alex
28. 1:13inside but let her go the story made
29. 1:16national news for N9 days and Smith kept
30. 1:18up the LIE until she couldn't any longer
31. 1:21Smith confessed to driving her car into
32. 1:23the lake with Michael and Alex strapped
33. 1:25into their car seats a man she had been
34. 1:28seeing at the time had broken It Off
35. 1:30with her and told her he wasn't
36. 1:31interested in raising children the
37. 1:34prosecutor believed that that was the
38. 1:35motive for the murder former solicitor
39. 1:38Tommy Pope had sought the death penalty
40. 1:40for Smith but the jury hearing evidence
41. 1:42that she had been sexually abused by her
42. 1:44stepfather and may have had a mental
43. 1:46break opted for a life sentence that
44. 1:49sentence made Smith eligible for parole
45. 1:51after serving 30 years today Smith told
46. 1:54the parole board why she believes she
47. 1:55served enough time for the murders of
48. 1:58Michael and Alex first of all I want to
49. 2:01say how very sorry I am
50. 2:18um it's okay Susan
51. 2:21just
52. 2:24just just talk with us
53. 2:32I know that what I do was
54. 2:46horrible and I would give anything if I
55. 2:49can go back and change
56. 2:51it and I love Michael and Alice with all
57. 2:55my heart
58. 3:08Smith were you under the influence of
59. 3:10drugs or alcohol the night that you
60. 3:12murdered your
61. 3:15children ma'am I was not Smith's
62. 3:18attorney told the parole board that she
63. 3:19had mental health problems it is a
64. 3:22mental health story um it's about uh the
65. 3:26dangers of untreated mental health it is
66. 3:29about um the lack of insight the lack of
67. 3:34diagnosis into mental
68. 3:37health your attorney your attorney
69. 3:39talked about working with mental health
70. 3:41is that helpful to
71. 3:46you Ma'am Mr
72. 3:49Thomas Mr Thomas talked about the fact
73. 3:52that you were working with mental health
74. 3:54and my question is is that helpful to
75. 3:58you yes
76. 4:01is that something that you would be
77. 4:02willing to continue with on the outside
78. 4:04if you were granted
79. 4:08parole yes
80. 4:12ma'am Miss Smith your crime took a lot
81. 4:16of of resources from the law enforcement
82. 4:19Community what if anything would you say
83. 4:22to the folks who worked so hard to find
84. 4:25your children if you had the opportunity
85. 4:27to speak to them today
86. 4:33that I'm sorry that I put them through
87. 4:35that I really really help and I'm
88. 4:38especially sorry to the divers I had to
89. 4:41find
90. 4:42them I wish I could take that back I
91. 4:45really
92. 4:47do I was really I didn't lie to get away
93. 4:51with it really didn't I was just
94. 4:55scared I didn't know how I could tell
95. 4:57the people that loved them that they
96. 4:58would never seen
97. 5:00again I know how tell David he couldn't
98. 5:03see his son
99. 5:07again and I'm I'm just I'm sorry I don't
100. 5:11know I know that's not enough I know
101. 5:13it's not but I don't know I know they
102. 5:16just have like words but they come from
103. 5:18my heart they really do the case of
104. 5:20Susan Smith murdering her two young Sons
105. 5:23Michael and Alex is unbelievable even 30
106. 5:26years later Smith has been behind bars
107. 5:28since 1994 I put her name into
108. 5:30truthfinder.com the world's largest
109. 5:32public record search service to see what
110. 5:35I would find Susan Smith appears in the
111. 5:37search results she's 53 and her
112. 5:39conviction for the murders of Michael
113. 5:41and Alex appears in the search results
114. 5:43along with the fact that she is eligible
115. 5:45for parole truthfinder is a great
116. 5:47resource because it will show you
117. 5:49criminal and traffic records past
118. 5:51addresses social media accounts phone
119. 5:53numbers and the relatives of the people
120. 5:55you search and the one thing that I like
121. 5:57about truthfinder it will also show you
122. 5:59the addresses of registered sex
123. 6:01offenders in your neighborhood if you'd
124. 6:03like to try truthfinder I have a great
125. 6:04deal for you you can get 50% off of
126. 6:06confidential background reports just log
127. 6:09on to
128. 6:10www.truthfinder.com
129. 6:11LC crifix and start accessing
130. 6:14information about almost anyone the
131. 6:17parole board looks at whether an inmate
132. 6:19has been rehabilitated during their
133. 6:21incarceration Smith time behind Prison
134. 6:24Walls has been marked by a number of
135. 6:26infractions She was transferred to
136. 6:28another prison after having sex with two
137. 6:30prison guards she's been in trouble for
138. 6:32using marijuana and using another
139. 6:34inmate's pin number and there have been
140. 6:37suicide attempts from 2015 until this
141. 6:40year Susan Smith didn't have any
142. 6:42reprimands but then in August prison
143. 6:44officials said they caught Smith talking
144. 6:46with a journalist on her prison tablet
145. 6:48and that's a violation of the prison
146. 6:50rules a document says the conversations
147. 6:54clearly discussed conducting an
148. 6:56interview and even filming a documentary
149. 6:58and ways to get paid for it they also
150. 7:00discussed in depth the crime and the
151. 7:02events leading up to and after it
152. 7:04actually took place including such
153. 7:06details as to what was in the trunk of
154. 7:08the car when it went into the water and
155. 7:10her plans to jump from a bridge while
156. 7:12holding the boys but one woke up the
157. 7:15document said Smith promised to provide
158. 7:17contact information for family and
159. 7:19friends including David Smith and that
160. 7:22the filmmaker was putting money on Susan
161. 7:24Smith's canteen and phone call account
162. 7:27Smith lost her tablet privileges for 90
163. 7:29days
164. 7:30but she says she's appealing the chair
165. 7:32of the parole board asked Smith about
166. 7:34her prison record I've never been in
167. 7:36trouble before and the things that I
168. 7:39have been found guilty of in
169. 7:43here have been just stupidity I just
170. 7:48made I I know I made a lot of mistakes
171. 7:51in here and I have learned from them and
172. 7:54before this last infraction had been 10
173. 7:56years cuz I grew up and I knew that I
174. 7:59needed to stop making dumb decisions and
175. 8:03I did I I just in I knew it was time to
176. 8:07just so I know do the right things I
177. 8:10just made a lot of what do you feel
178. 8:15ises so I know I've learned from those
179. 8:18mistakes what do you think
180. 8:21most
181. 8:25incarcerated ma what do you think is the
182. 8:27most important thing learned while you
183. 8:30have been
184. 8:31incarcerated that people are important
185. 8:34that
186. 8:36it's that forgiveness and love um that
187. 8:41family is important and that decisions
188. 8:44we make not just affect us they affect
189. 8:47the people that we
190. 8:49love and not to take things or people
191. 8:52for
192. 8:54granted all right is there anything else
193. 8:56that you would like to tell us today
194. 8:58that wasn't in your packet or that has
195. 9:00not already been
196. 9:04said um I would just like to say that
197. 9:10um I am a Christian and God is a big
198. 9:15part of my life and I know he has
199. 9:18forgiven
200. 9:19me and it is by his grace and mercy that
201. 9:23and I have a lot of faith and I live by
202. 9:24that every day and I just ask that that
203. 9:28you um show that same kind of Mercy as
204. 9:32well
205. 9:35um
206. 9:38and I guess the that's it thank you
207. 9:42Smith's lawyer said she plans to live
208. 9:44with her brother and has been working on
209. 9:46an associates degree she's a Christian
210. 9:49and she's tutored other inmates and
211. 9:50helped them get their geds two long time
212. 9:53friends of Smiths also spoke on her
213. 9:55behalf supporting her release and it
214. 9:57certainly has been for Susan during her
215. 10:0130 years in prison and especially the
216. 10:04first part of her time that she was
217. 10:06there it's been mentioned she attempted
218. 10:09suicide several times and she had a
219. 10:12couple of run-ins where guards were able
220. 10:15to use her for their pleasure uh and uh
221. 10:20that's a bad situation and uh was dealt
222. 10:24with I really think Susan is ready for
223. 10:27Coro now she has surrounded herself with
224. 10:31a caring support Community to that
225. 10:35advises and encourages her and she
226. 10:39listens to them but then it was time for
227. 10:42the parole board to hear from the only
228. 10:44people who were there to speak for
229. 10:46three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old
230. 10:48Alex their father David his wife Tiffany
231. 10:52and other family members former
232. 10:54solicitor Tommy Pope and current
233. 10:55solicitor Kevin bracket were also there
234. 10:59it's been a tough 30
235. 11:03years
236. 11:05um I'm not here to speak about what
237. 11:08she's done in prison you all have the
238. 11:12records and accounts of all
239. 11:14that just here to
240. 11:16Advocate on Michael Alex's
241. 11:20behalf and as their
242. 11:26father you know
243. 11:29God gives us free
244. 11:32choice and she made free choice that
245. 11:34night to end her life this wasn't her
246. 11:38tragic
247. 11:39mistake wasn't something that she didn't
248. 11:42mean to do she
249. 11:47purposely meant to end their
250. 11:52life I
251. 11:54never have felt any remorse from her for
252. 11:57it she's never expressed any to me I
253. 12:00never seen it on
254. 12:04paper
255. 12:10um now she youve heard she changed my
256. 12:14life for the rest of my life that night
257. 12:29some for the better some for the worse
258. 12:37but but what she did not only to Michael
259. 12:41and
260. 12:44Alex she came pretty
261. 12:47close to causing me to end my
262. 12:50life because of the grief that she
263. 12:53brought upon
264. 12:57me but thankfully
265. 13:03didn't I understand back
266. 13:06in
267. 13:0995 that through the state's
268. 13:11law life imprisonment 30 years to
269. 13:16life and now that's different but at
270. 13:19that time that's what counts I
271. 13:21understand
272. 13:26that but ultimately to me
273. 13:30that's only 15 years per
274. 13:33child her own
275. 13:38children it's just not
276. 13:44enough so I'm asking that you
277. 13:47please do not hurt PE
278. 13:52today and hopefully in the future but
279. 13:55specifically today
280. 13:59not let her
281. 14:02out I miss him very
282. 14:06much and I love them very
283. 14:08much and I will be here every two years
284. 14:12going
285. 14:14forward to ensure
286. 14:17that your death doesn't go in
287. 14:20vain thank you David Smith's wife
288. 14:23Tiffany Smith also spoke about the loss
289. 14:26of Michael and Alex and watching her
290. 14:28husband live through the last 30 years
291. 14:31so as as David's
292. 14:33wife I have stood by him for the last 30
293. 14:36years and watched his pain his
294. 14:40suffering his dark days that you canot
295. 14:47imagine it's been hard as a loving wife
296. 14:51to stand back and watch him suffer the
297. 14:54pain that he has gone
298. 14:57through to not want to get out of bed
299. 14:59bed some
300. 15:02days to not be able to get out of
301. 15:09bed because the pain was so much for
302. 15:17him and for 30 years we had thought this
303. 15:20day would never come but yet here we
304. 15:27are I don't feel that that it's time for
305. 15:30her to be let out because she took two
306. 15:33lives she didn't just take one she took
307. 15:36two gracious little
308. 15:38boys that we haven't been able to watch
309. 15:41grow
310. 15:44up and as Becky stated earlier all the
311. 15:47things that we've missed out on because
312. 15:49of them not being here all the things
313. 15:52they missed out on growing up in and
314. 15:56doing
315. 16:04and for her to be in prison for the last
316. 16:0730 years you would think that she would
317. 16:08have thought about what she's done she
318. 16:11would have said I'm sorry but she hasn't
319. 16:13said I'm sorry she hasn't even called
320. 16:16him hasn't even told him she was
321. 16:20sorry much less the
322. 16:22world for nine days all I can think
323. 16:25about is how much she
324. 16:27lied and man ulated
325. 16:30everybody the whole
326. 16:32world I watched it and believed her
327. 16:34myself the parole board also heard from
328. 16:37Savannah Smith David and Tiffany Smith's
329. 16:40daughter she was born years after
330. 16:42Michael and Alex were
331. 16:44killed what I had stolen from
332. 16:47me was two older
333. 16:49brothers the good and the bad of having
334. 16:52older
335. 16:54siblings and
336. 16:58I now try to use my
337. 17:01life as a way to live for
338. 17:05them and growing
339. 17:08up I didn't quite understand it my whole
340. 17:11life but when I finally
341. 17:13did I felt like I had witnessed it like
342. 17:15I was
343. 17:17there the pain that Not only was caused
344. 17:20to
345. 17:21me
346. 17:24and like a domino effect but what I have
347. 17:28seen from
348. 17:29firstand with my father my
349. 17:34aunt and our whole
350. 17:39Hometown we can no longer say that we're
351. 17:41from Union County without Susan's
352. 17:44actions being brought
353. 17:51up and just for the sake of all of us
354. 17:54and our whole Community I ask that you
355. 17:57deny her request and then it was Tommy
356. 17:59Pope's turn he was the solicitor who
357. 18:01prosecuted Smith and had sought the
358. 18:03death penalty Susan's conduct from the
359. 18:06day she rolled the kids in the lake the
360. 18:08defense claimed a a botch suicide but
361. 18:11she was able to save herself she was
362. 18:13able to blame a black guy she wasn't wet
363. 18:15she wasn't injured when she runs to the
364. 18:17house and concocts this story Susan has
365. 18:20always focused on Susan I will believe
366. 18:23to to the end of my time that Susan made
367. 18:26a horrible horrible choice to choose a
368. 18:29man over her family I said the boys were
369. 18:32in the car her wedding gown was in the
370. 18:34car her wedding album was in the car she
371. 18:37thought in a nice packet she could roll
372. 18:39that away if she could have put David in
373. 18:40the car he would have been there too she
374. 18:42in a nice packet she could roll that
375. 18:44away and start this new life with this
376. 18:47other man and she led everyone on
377. 18:49including David for nine horrible days
378. 18:52and so as you look at her conduct in
379. 18:54prison whether it was a relationship
380. 18:56with guards um the social media media
381. 18:59the attention uh the conduct recently
382. 19:02with the the publisher um Susan you know
383. 19:05she's got people outside I'm sure you've
384. 19:07heard from them that want to take care
385. 19:08of her Susan has always focused on
386. 19:11what's best for Susan and so the
387. 19:13evidence that you have before you I
388. 19:15think tells clearly that she has not
389. 19:18focused on Michael and Alex she only has
390. 19:21and continues to focus on herself and so
391. 19:24on behalf of this family on behalf of
392. 19:26justice and the justice for this case
393. 19:28it's not about her behavior or what she
394. 19:31would do when getting out but I know one
395. 19:32of your criteria is the nature of the
396. 19:34crime and whether the punishment is
397. 19:37there and I would submit for the crime
398. 19:39she committed the actions she committed
399. 19:41that punishment has not been achieved
400. 19:43yet and so I would ask you to deny
401. 19:45parole now I thank you for your time and
402. 19:47the current solicitor Kevin bracket also
403. 19:50addressed the parole board I've reviewed
404. 19:52the file I've pulled some of the
405. 19:53evidence out which is in a closet just
406. 19:56off my office evidence like the note
407. 19:59that was written uh to Susan Smith by
408. 20:01her her boyfriend the man she was
409. 20:03cheating on her husband with who told
410. 20:05her in the note that he could not be
411. 20:07with her anymore because he didn't want
412. 20:10children and that they had no long-term
413. 20:11future because he didn't want children
414. 20:14and then one week later she's rolling
415. 20:16her car down the ramp at John D long
416. 20:19lake with her two children strapped into
417. 20:21the back she betrayed her husband when
418. 20:23she cheated on him and she betrayed her
419. 20:25children
420. 20:28against the laws of
421. 20:30nature when she should have been sworn
422. 20:33to protect those children she betrayed
423. 20:36them when she left them in the seat and
424. 20:38rolled that car down and she was not
425. 20:40trying to commit suicide she was trying
426. 20:42to change her life she wanted to kill
427. 20:44her old life and start a new the parole
428. 20:46board voted swiftly with one member
429. 20:48recusing herself because she had worked
430. 20:50at a prison that housed Smith the vote
431. 20:53was unanimous to deny parole for Susan
432. 20:55Smith as a reminder Mrs Mir did recuse
433. 21:01herself Miss Susan Smith is denied Perle
434. 21:04the vote is unanimous numers one and six
435. 21:09thank you today has been 30
436. 21:12years
437. 21:16coming didn't wasn't sure how to feel
438. 21:19what to
439. 21:20expect I know what I was
440. 21:23hoping um
441. 21:29I
442. 21:31think you know Susan in the last 30
443. 21:34years to her
444. 21:35action has continued to proven that it's
445. 21:39all about
446. 21:41her what what is done what all this has
447. 21:44done to her how it has affected
448. 21:48her um I haven't seen any remorse from
449. 21:53her
450. 21:56so for her to think that I would even
451. 22:00speak on her behalf just I do not
452. 22:04understand that in the end David Smith
453. 22:07wants people to remember the victims in
454. 22:09this case his two little boys Michael
455. 22:11and Alex who would be in their 30s had
456. 22:14they been allowed to live that October
457. 22:16night in
458. 22:181994 the
459. 22:20committee made the right decision
460. 22:23and denied her
461. 22:25parole at least for another two years
462. 22:34so I'm not looking forward to it in two
463. 22:36more years to go through this again but
464. 22:38at least I know for now she'll still be
465. 22:40behind
466. 22:42bars
467. 22:45and for two more years there'll still be
468. 22:48Justice for Michael and Alex and David
469. 22:50Smith says he will be back for each and
470. 22:53every parole hearing to oppose Susan
471. 22:55Smith's release the next one will be
472. 22:57held to you years from now and that's it
473. 23:00for this episode of crime fix s me and
474. 23:02Janette leevy thanks so much for being
475. 23:03with me I'll see you back here next time