Editing Susan Smith (section)

==Crimes==
On October 25, 1994, Smith reported to police that she had been the victim of a carjacking by a black man while driving her 1990 [[Mazda Familia#Sixth generation (BG; 1989–1994)|Mazda Protégé]] sedan with her sons still in the back seat.<ref>{{cite web |last1=CDP |title=Susan Smith |url=https://criminaldiscoursepodcast.com/susan-smith/ |website=Criminal Discourse Podcast |access-date=21 November 2024 |date=23 November 2020}}</ref> For nine days, she made dramatic pleas on national television for their safe return. However, following an intensive investigation and a nationwide search for them, she confessed on November 3, 1994, to letting her car roll into nearby [[John D. Long Lake]],<ref>{{cite web|title=John D. Long Lake|url=http://scgreatoutdoors.com/park-johndlonglake.html|website=scgreatoutdoors.com|access-date=June 18, 2016}}</ref> drowning them inside.<ref>{{cite web|first=Charles|last=Montaldo| website=[[About.com]] |url=http://crime.about.com/od/murder/a/susan_smith.htm|title=Susan Smith — Profile of a Child Killer | date=April 1, 2018|access-date=February 24, 2012}}</ref> Her motivation was reportedly to facilitate a relationship with a local wealthy man named Tom Findlay. Prior to the murders, he sent her a letter ending their relationship and expressing that he did not want children.<ref>{{cite news |first = Kathy | last = Kemp |url = http://www.alabamapress.org/uploads/Cat%2012%20Div%20A_Feature.pdf | title = In The Arms of Angels | newspaper = [[Birmingham News]] |date = April 17, 2005 | access-date = <!-----7 April 2010-----> | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110724232211/http://www.alabamapress.org/uploads/Cat%2012%20Div%20A_Feature.pdf | archive-date = July 24, 2011 }}</ref> She said there was no motive nor did she plan the murders, stating that she was not in a right state of mind.<ref name=NBC>{{cite web|first=Elizabeth|last=Chuck|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/susan-smith-mother-who-killed-kids-something-went-very-wrong-n397051|title=Susan Smith, Mother Who Killed Kids: 'Something Went Very Wrong That Night'|website=[[NBC News]]|date=July 23, 2015}}</ref>

Later revelations indicated that detectives doubted Smith's story from the start and believed that she murdered her sons. By the second day of the investigation, the police suspected that she knew their location and hoped that they were still alive. Investigators started to search the nearby lakes and ponds, including John D. Long Lake, where their bodies were eventually found. Initial water searches did not locate the car because the police believed it would be within 30 feet of the shore, and did not search further; it turned out to be 122 feet from the shore. After the boys had been missing for two days, Smith was subjected to a [[polygraph]] test. A significant breakthrough in the case was her description of the carjacking location. She had claimed that a traffic light had turned red, causing her to stop at an otherwise empty intersection. However, it was determined that the light would not have turned red for her unless another vehicle was present on the intersecting road. This conflicted with her statement that she did not see any other cars there when the carjacking took place. 

===Trial===
In 1995, David Bruck and [[Judy Clarke]] served as co-counsel for Smith.<ref name="Smith Trial">{{cite news|last1=Bragg|first1=Rick|title=Arguments Begin in Susan Smith Trial|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/19/us/arguments-begin-in-susan-smith-trial.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 19, 1995 |access-date=25 December 2014}}</ref> In their opening statement, Clarke argued Smith was deeply troubled and experienced severe depression.<ref name="Smith Trial" /> Clarke told the jury: "This is not a case about evil. This is a case about despair and sadness."<ref name="CNN" /> The defense's theory of the case was that Smith drove to the edge of the lake to kill herself and her two sons, but her body willed itself out of the car.<ref name="Smith Trial" /> The prosecution, on the other hand, believed she murdered her sons in order to start a new life with a former lover.<ref name="Smith Trial" /> It took the jury only two and a half hours to convict her of murdering them. During the penalty phase, [[Tommy Pope (politician)|Tommy Pope]], the lead prosecutor in the Smith case, argued passionately in favor of sentencing Smith to death. The jury ultimately voted against imposing the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]].<ref name="CNN">{{cite news|last1=O'Neill|first1=Ann|title=Lawyer keeps even the most loathed criminals off death row|url=http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/12/arizona.judy.clarke.profile/|website=[[CNN]]|date=January 12, 2011|access-date=26 December 2014}}</ref> Smith was sentenced to two concurrent life terms in prison in 1995 for the murders of her two sons. Smith's defense [[psychiatrist]] diagnosed her with [[dependent personality disorder]] and [[Major depressive disorder|major depression]].<ref name="trutv.com"/>