A parole board decided unanimously on Wednesday that Susan Smith should remain in prison, despite her plea that God has forgiven her for killing her two young sons 30 years ago by rolling her car into a South Carolina lake while they were strapped in their car seats.

It was the first parole hearing for Smith, 53, who is serving a life sentence after a jury convicted her of murder but decided to spare her the death penalty. Under state law at the time, she is eligible for a parole hearing every two years now that she has spent 30 years behind bars.

Smith made her case by videolink from prison. When she began to speak, she started to say she was “very sorry,” then broke down in tears and bowed her head.

“I know what I did was horrible,” Smith said. “And I would give anything so I could change it.”

Susan Smith is seen in court via videolink
Susan Smith is seen in court via videolink (Walter Ratliff/AP)

The parole board asked Smith about the law enforcement resources used to try to locate her children. In reply, she told the board she was “just scared” and “didn’t know how to tell them”.

In her final statements, Smith referred to her Christian faith, saying: “God is a big part of my life.” God has forgiven her, Smith said. “I ask that you show that kind of mercy, as well,” she said.

Prosecutors have long said that Smith killed three-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex because a man she was having an affair with suggested the boys were the reason they did not have a future together.

A group of about 15 people urged against parole. They included her ex-husband and the father of the boys, David Smith; his family members; prosecutors; and law enforcement officials. David Smith had a photo of Michael and Alex pinned to his suit jacket.

Susan Smith had “free choice,” he said, and his children’s deaths were not a “tragic mistake.”

He said he has never seen Susan Smith express remorse toward him. “She changed my life for the rest of my life that night,” he said.

“I’m asking that you please, deny her parole today, and hopefully in the future, but specifically today,” he said, adding that he plans to attend each parole hearing to make sure Michael and Alex are not forgotten.

A decision to grant parole requires a two-thirds vote of board members present at the hearing, according to the state Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.

Parole in South Carolina is granted only about 8% of the time and is less likely with an inmate’s first appearance before the board, in notorious cases or when prosecutors and the families of victims are opposed.

A tribute at the lake where Alex and Michael Smith were drowned in a car in 1994
A tribute at the lake where Alex and Michael Smith were drowned in a car in 1994 (Lou Krasky/AP)

Before Smith testified, she listened to a statement from her lawyer, Tommy Thomas. He called her situation one about “the dangers of untreated mental health”.

She had several mental health issues as a teenager that went unchecked to produce “horrendous results”, Mr Thomas said. He also referenced that she had no criminal history before her conviction, making her “low risk” to the public.

The board’s decision was the one David Smith had hoped for, he said in a news conference following the hearing. “In two more years, we’ll go through this again,” he said. “But at least I know, for now, she’ll still be behind bars.”

The family and prosecution had been “cautiously optimistic,” former prosecutor Tommy Pope said, because Susan Smith has continually demonstrated that it’s “always been about Susan”.

“I believe Susan is the same woman she was 30 years ago when she laughed in the courtroom when the jury wasn’t in and cried as soon as the jury comes in,” Mr Pope said.

Smith made international headlines in October 1994 when she said she was carjacked late at night near the city of Union and that a black man drove away with her sons inside.

For nine days, Smith made numerous and sometimes tearful pleas asking that Michael and Alex be returned safely. The whole time, the boys were in Smith’s car at the bottom of nearby John D Long Lake, authorities said.

Smith ultimately confessed to letting her car roll down a boat ramp and into the lake. A re-creation by investigators showed it took six minutes for the Mazda to dip below the surface, while cameras inside the vehicle showed water pouring in through the vents and steadily rising. The boys’ bodies were found dangling upside-down in their car seats.

Prosecutors said Smith was having an affair with the wealthy son of the owner of the business she worked at. He broke it off because she had the two young sons.

Smith’s lawyers said she was remorseful, was suffering a mental breakdown and intended to die alongside her children but left the car at the last moment.

The 1995 trial of the young mother became a national sensation. Her lawyers worked to save her life, noting that Smith’s father had killed himself and that her stepfather, along with the owner of the business where she worked, was having sex with her.