Susan Smith Parole Hearing: Second Bid for Freedom Faces David Smith's Opposition

Susan Smith will go before the South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons on Thursday, November 19, 2026, for her second parole hearing since she was convicted of murdering her two young sons. It is the first time in two years the board has weighed whether she should ever walk free again.

Her former husband, David Smith, will attend the hearing in Columbia and argue against her release, as he did in 2024, when the board voted unanimously to keep her in prison. Smith has spent more than three decades behind bars for the deaths of Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months, serving a sentence of 30 years to life.

Key Points

• Susan Smith, convicted in July 1995 of murdering her sons Michael, 3, and Alexander, 14 months, faces her second parole hearing on Thursday, November 19, 2026, in Columbia, South Carolina.
• The South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons unanimously denied her first bid for release in 2024.
• Her former husband, David Smith, will attend and fight her release, as he did two years ago.
• In October 1994, Smith falsely claimed a man had carjacked her car with her sons inside. Nine days later she confessed to letting the car roll into John D. Long Lake with the boys strapped inside.
• Smith is serving 30 years to life at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood, South Carolina.

What Happened

The hearing takes place on Thursday, November 19, 2026, before the South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons in Columbia. It is Smith's second appearance before the board since she became eligible for parole after serving 30 years of her life sentence. Her first hearing, in 2024, ended with a unanimous vote to deny her release.

David Smith, the father of the two boys, will be present to oppose her release. He attended the 2024 hearing and spoke against freeing the woman who killed his children, and he intends to do the same again. The board hears from the prisoner and from victims and their families before deciding, and its ruling usually comes on the day of the hearing or shortly afterwards.

Background: The 1994 Crime That Shocked America

The case began on October 25, 1994, in Union, South Carolina. Smith told police a Black man had carjacked her at a traffic light and driven away with her sons, Michael and Alexander, strapped into the back seat of her burgundy Mazda. A nine-day search gripped the nation. Investigators grew suspicious as her account failed to add up, and on November 3, 1994, Smith confessed: she had strapped her sons into their car seats, put the car in neutral and let it roll down a boat ramp into John D. Long Lake in Union County, where the boys drowned.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but in July 1995 a jury convicted Smith of two counts of murder and sentenced her to life, with parole possible after 30 years. The false claim, which pointed suspicion at a Black man, became a lasting part of the case's legacy. The lake where Michael and Alexander died is now an informal memorial, and strangers still leave toys at the water's edge.

Susan Smith Parole Hearing: What the Board Will Weigh

The board's decision will turn on more than the passage of time. Smith has served the 30-year minimum that makes her eligible for parole, but eligibility is not release: the board must decide whether freeing her fits public safety and the gravity of the crime. Against release is the scale of what she did. She did not kill in a moment of rage or by accident. She planned the deaths of her own children, strapped them into a car and let it sink, then misled police, her family and the country for nine days while searchers looked for boys who were already dead. The board will also hear from David Smith, the father of the victims.

For release is the sentence the jury itself imposed: life with the possibility of parole after 30 years. The jury chose life over death, and the law now requires the board to consider her case on its merits.

Reactions: A Father Who Vows to Keep Fighting

David Smith has never wavered in his opposition to his former wife's release. He fought her parole in 2024, and he will be in Columbia again on Thursday to argue that she should remain in prison. For him, the hearing is not an abstract legal question but a return to the worst week of his life, when he discovered on television that the woman he had married had killed their sons. The toys left at John D. Long Lake are a quiet sign of how the case still lives in memory: strangers who were not alive when the boys died still travel to the spot to remember them.

Why It Matters

This hearing tests what a life sentence with the possibility of parole really means when the crime is among the worst a parent can commit. The jury that convicted Smith in 1995 decided she should live and should have a chance, after 30 years, to ask for her freedom. The parole board must now decide whether that chance has been earned. Releasing Smith would signal that even the killing of two small children can eventually be forgiven by the state; keeping her in prison would signal the opposite.

What Happens Next

The board will hear from Smith, from David Smith and from anyone else it has agreed to hear, and then vote. If it grants parole, Smith would be released under conditions set by the board, typically including supervision and restrictions on where she may live and travel. If it denies parole, she will stay in prison, and on the pattern of the last two years her next hearing would be roughly two years away. The decision is likely to be announced the same day or soon after.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Susan Smith's parole hearing?
Her second parole hearing is on Thursday, November 19, 2026, before the South Carolina Board of Paroles and Pardons in Columbia.

Why was Susan Smith denied parole in 2024?
The board voted unanimously to deny her first bid in 2024, after hearing opposition from her former husband David Smith.

Where is Susan Smith imprisoned?
She is held at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood, South Carolina, serving 30 years to life.

What happened to Michael and Alexander Smith?
Their mother strapped them into their car seats and let her car roll into John D. Long Lake, where they drowned. She was convicted of two counts of murder in July 1995.

What happens if parole is denied again?
Smith would remain in prison at Leath Correctional Institution, and on the pattern of the last two years her next parole hearing would be roughly two years away.

In South Carolina, a baby was found alive after being buried in a dog crate in the woods. In Massachusetts, Lindsay Clancy awaits a decision on whether she will be retried for killing her three children.