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

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1. 0:00case number 34 Susan Smith a dramatic
2. 0:04and emotional scene playing out in South
3. 0:06Carolina today Susan Smith who hasn't
4. 0:08spoken publicly in 30 years first of all
5. 0:12I want to say how very sorry I know
6. 0:17pleading she served enough time for
7. 0:19murdering her two young Sons but letting
8. 0:21her car sink with them strapped inside
9. 0:24that she deserves to be set free I give
10. 0:26anything if I can go back and change it
11. 0:29and I love Michael and Alice with all my
12. 0:33heart Smith serving a life sentence but
13. 0:36under South Carolina law is sful parole
14. 0:38after 30 years in prison making her case
15. 0:41to the seveners parole board I am a
16. 0:44Christian and God is a big part of my
17. 0:48life and I know he has forgiven me
18. 0:51Susan's ex-husband David Smith arguing
19. 0:53just as emphatically that she should be
20. 0:55kept Behind Bars that's only 15 years
21. 1:00per
22. 1:01child her own
23. 1:05children it's just not
24. 1:11enough so I'm asking that you
25. 1:14please do not her Pro
26. 1:17today also in the room family members
27. 1:20and prosecutors from the original case
28. 1:22who spoke for nearly 30 minutes urging
29. 1:24the board to deny parole Michael and
30. 1:26Alice didn't get a chance at life they
31. 1:29were forced
32. 1:30the death penalty Susan has always
33. 1:33focused on what's best for Susan and so
34. 1:35the evidence that you have before you I
35. 1:37think tells clearly that she has not
36. 1:40focused on Michael and Alex now she
37. 1:42wants a chance to be free after only
38. 1:44serving 30
39. 1:47years
40. 1:48no life should mean life Susan's lawyer
41. 1:51arguing that her mental health should
42. 1:53have been given more weight during the
43. 1:55trial it is about um the lack of sight
44. 2:00the lack of diagnosis into mental health
45. 2:04and it's about stigmas uh old stigmas
46. 2:07after a short deliberation Miss Susan
47. 2:10Smith is denied parole the vote is
48. 2:12unanimous David speaking to reporters
49. 2:15shortly after the decision for two more
50. 2:17years there'll still be Justice for
51. 2:19Michael and Alex Michael and Alex two
52. 2:21toddlers who were the center of a crime
53. 2:23that captivated the
54. 2:25[Music]
55. 2:26nation on October 25th 1994
56. 2:30Susan reported in what we now know was a
57. 2:32fake story that a black man with a gun
58. 2:35car jackor and drove off with her son
59. 2:37still strapped in their car seats I've
60. 2:39been on the highway in this same area
61. 2:42with my children at that exact same time
62. 2:44it just it's too close to your heart
63. 2:46Susan and her husband appeared together
64. 2:48pleading for their son's return and your
65. 2:50mom and daddy are going to be right here
66. 2:52waiting on you when you get
67. 2:55home I love you so
68. 2:58much to the public public it was
69. 3:01compelling
70. 3:02stuff to the
71. 3:04authorities they had questions early on
72. 3:08behind the scenes law enforcement is is
73. 3:11focusing more on the discrepancies and
74. 3:13little by little her story was
75. 3:16unraveling N9 days after the boys went
76. 3:18missing investigators confronted Susan
77. 3:21and a 23-year-old confessed everyone
78. 3:24down
79. 3:25please Susan Smith has been arrested and
80. 3:30will'll be charged with two counts of
81. 3:32murder in connection with the deaths of
82. 3:35her children Michael 3 and Alexander 14
83. 3:40months I almost dropped to my knees I
84. 3:43mean did he say kill how could she have
85. 3:45two children and do them like that this
86. 3:47was a stunning moment the woman who's on
87. 3:51TV calling for help she's the one who
88. 3:54did this there's an audible gasp a
89. 3:58Silence of how can this woman go from
90. 4:02victim to alleged murderer in just an
91. 4:06instance in her handwritten confession
92. 4:08Susan wrote that on the night of October
93. 4:1025th she didn't want to live anymore she
94. 4:14detailed how she was in love with
95. 4:15someone very much but he didn't love her
96. 4:18and never would she says she decided to
97. 4:20kill herself and her sons because she
98. 4:22didn't want them to grow up without a
99. 4:24mom and drove to John Del Long Lake got
100. 4:27out of the car put it in neutral and let
101. 4:30it roll down the boat ramp into the
102. 4:32water with her boys
103. 4:35inside Tommy poke who spoke at today's
104. 4:37proo hearing was the lead prosecutor in
105. 4:39the case I tried a lot of horrible cases
106. 4:42but the media
107. 4:44component just took everything you would
108. 4:47normally have in a case and put it on
109. 4:52steroids for months the focus of the
110. 4:54nation was on this Tiny Town hitting a
111. 4:56fever pitch just days before trial when
112. 4:59investigators reenacted the
113. 5:04crime a trial prosecutors played that
114. 5:06reenactment and heard testimony from one
115. 5:08of the divers described seeing a small
116. 5:11hand against a car window at the bottom
117. 5:13of the lake the jury also heard from
118. 5:15Susan's ex-lover Tom Finley you have
119. 5:17someone saying yeah I was in this
120. 5:19relationship with her and broke it off
121. 5:22because I didn't want the responsibility
122. 5:24of children I I think it gives her the
123. 5:28intent
124. 5:32Susan Smith's main defense her mental
125. 5:35health they focused a lot on her
126. 5:40background on what had happened to her
127. 5:43as a child being molested being troubled
128. 5:48and tried to portray her as something
129. 5:51other than a
130. 5:56monster the jury found Susan guilty
131. 5:59after just 2 hours of deliberation there
132. 6:01was a tough psychological component
133. 6:04going here people didn't want to believe
134. 6:07that a mother could do
135. 6:09that now 53 Susan has been behind bars
136. 6:12more than half of her life record shows
137. 6:15she has not been a model prisoner she
138. 6:17says I want
139. 6:19to have oral sex with you Alfred Ro was
140. 6:23a guard out of prison in Colombia when
141. 6:25Susan was an inmate there when I first
142. 6:28met Susan she was kind of
143. 6:30friendly um she was well spoken um
144. 6:35polite confident they had an affair back
145. 6:38in 2000 according to the court records
146. 6:41she also had sex with a second guard
147. 6:43both men lost their jobs the second man
148. 6:45went to jail for 3 months and Rog Got 5
149. 6:48years probation Susan was ultimately
150. 6:51transferred to a different
151. 6:53prison I truly regret what I done she
152. 6:57has shown through her abuse of the
153. 7:00institutional rules and regulations
154. 7:03that she's not ready to join society and
155. 7:07be a law-abiding citizen again she
156. 7:12doesn't deserve parole yet recers also
157. 7:15show at least three instances of drug
158. 7:17use and being sanctioned for mutilation
159. 7:20but she had no infractions for 10 years
160. 7:22until this past August when according to
161. 7:24the South Carolina Department of
162. 7:25Correction she got into trouble for
163. 7:27speaking to a filmmaker who deposited an
164. 7:29disclosed amount of money into her
165. 7:31prison account why should this board
166. 7:33think that if we Grant you parole that
167. 7:36you're going to go out and follow the
168. 7:38rules and the laws of society well this
169. 7:42last infraction
170. 7:46um I was trusted the wrong person this
171. 7:49lady contacted me and I trusted her I
172. 7:52thought she was going to do a
173. 7:55documentary on mental health and the
174. 7:57things that I have been found guilty of
175. 8:00in
176. 8:02here have been just
177. 8:06stupidity Susan Smith is next eligible
178. 8:08for parole in 2 years David says he's
179. 8:11not looking forward to reliving the pain
180. 8:14I miss him very much and I love them
181. 8:16very
182. 8:17much and I will be here every two years
183. 8:21going
184. 8:23forward to ensure
185. 8:26that your death doesn't go in vain