Killer mom Susan Smith sobbed and begged to be let out of prison as she appeared before the South Carolina parole board on Wednesday.
But, true to form, she still refused to take full responsibility for her actions — blaming her recent conviction for trying to cash in on her infamy from prison — on the documentary maker she was communicating with.
She also claimed that previous convictions for misconduct behind bars were not her fault.
Attending the meeting remotely via Zoom, Smith, 53, told the board that she had lost touch with reality when she killed her sons, Alex and Michael, by strapping them in their car seats and letting them drown in a South Carolina lake.
“I am a Christian and I know that God has forgiven me,” Smith told the board, before begging the parole board to “show the same kind of mercy.”
As Smith wiped her tears with a tissue, she acknowledged the pain she had caused. “I want to say how very sorry I am,” she said.
Smith’s attorney told the board that the prosecution was wrong about her alleged motive. “This is a mental health story,” he said. “This was not about another man. She was mentally ill.”
Smith has spent 30 years in prison since receiving her life sentence for the 1994 incident. This is her first parole hearing.