COLUMBIA, S.C. — Four days ago, a parole board unanimously decided that Susan Smith should stay in prison.
This decision comes 30 years after she was convicted of killing her two young sons by rolling her car into a South Carolina lake in Union County while they were strapped in their car seats.
We spoke to a local criminal defense attorney and a former federal prosecutor, both unaffiliated with the case, about why people are still fascinated with this case 30 years later.
"Anytime in criminal law when you're talking and trying to -- on either side -- whether you're a prosecutor or a defense lawyer, the fundamental question, obviously, you have to prove someone did it," former federal prosecutor Derek Shoemake said. "But there's always this underlying question of why, and I think one of the reasons this resonates 30 years later, as well, is that question's never been really answered to anyone's satisfaction and probably can't be."
"A mother taking the life of her children -- no one's ever going to understand that, and I think that's what keeps it always at the front of people's mind when it comes up because there is no why," he added.
Shoemake said it's also memorable because there aren't many cases where a woman is convicted of murdering her children.
"The fact that it was a female -- the fact that a mother killed her offspring -- I think that was a huge shock to the community," criminal defense attorney Taylor Bell said. "I grew up outside of south Charlotte area, and even living right there in south Charlotte area, it was huge. It was all over the country."
Bell said it's also a case that's captivated the world because typically when someone goes to prison, they don't come back looking better than before. He said that Smith manipulated her way through the prison system, having relationships with guards and officials within the prison.
"While you can explain those actions, it's hard to forgive that and it's a state that believes in protecting life," Bell said. "I think that is a huge thorn in South Carolinians' side -- that a mother would take the life of her two children over an extramarital affair."
However, an attorney representing Smith denied that this was the motive for her actions during the hearing.
Shoemake said South Carolinians and people across the country were emotionally invested in this trial.
"Because people remember that feeling, that betrayal being on her side, hoping for the best that these young children would be found only to find out that she'd been lying the whole time," Shoemake said.
Neither Shoemake nor Bell said they think Smith will get parole -- at least not within the next 10 to 20 years.