Death Penalty Possible for Mother in Drowning Case
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UNION, S.C. — A judge ruled Friday prosecutors can seek the death penalty in the trial of Susan Smith, the 23-year-old woman accused of drowning her two sons.
Circuit Court Judge William Howard also refused to delay the trial, set to begin July 10.
Smith confessed to allowing her car to roll into a lake with the two boys, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, strapped in their safety seats last October after she was jilted by a lover.
Defense attorney David Bruck told the judge during a hearing Friday that the death penalty should not be allowed in the case because recent comments by prosecutor Tommy Pope and the prosecutor’s re-enactment of the drowning could prejudice potential jurors.
On Wednesday, Pope videotaped a re-enactment of the boys’ death by rolling Smith’s Mazda Protege into John D. Long Lake in hopes of creating a vivid picture of the emotional trauma the boys may have felt as the car submerged.
He said he hoped to show how much time Smith may have had to change her mind and save the children.
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