COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina mother Susan Smith, who was convicted of killing her two sons in 1994 by rolling her car into a lake while the children were strapped into their seats, will petition the parole board for her freedom on Wednesday.

Smith, 53, is serving a life sentence after a jury convicted him of murder but decided not to impose the death penalty. Under state law at the time, he is now eligible for a parole hearing every two years because he has spent 30 years behind bars.

Smith will present his request for freedom to the seven-member parole board via video link from prison. She will then go offline and her ex-husband and the children’s father, as well as the prosecutor in the murder case, will claim that she remains in jail.

Prosecutors said Smith killed 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex because a man she was in a relationship with suggested the boys were the reason they didn’t have a future together.

Her ex-husband, David Smith, said in an interview on NBC’s “Today” show that aired Wednesday that 30 years wasn’t enough and he didn’t think he could ever be rehabilitated.

“God gives us free will, and that night it was his choice and no one else’s choice. “No one did this for him,” David Smith said. “He chose to kill Michael and Alex.”

A decision on parole requires a two-thirds vote of the board members present at the hearing, according to the state Department of Parole, Parole and Pardon Services. In South Carolina, parole is granted in only 8% of cases, and less so the first time an inmate appears before the board, in notorious cases or in cases opposed by prosecutors and victims’ families.

Smith made international headlines in October 1994 when she said she had been carjacked late at night near the town of Union and that a man had driven away with her sons.

For nine days, Smith made numerous and sometimes tearful pleas for the safe return of Michael and Alex. The entire time, the children were in Smith’s car at the bottom of nearby John D. Long Lake, authorities said.

Investigators said Smith’s story didn’t make sense. Car thieves often just want a vehicle, so investigators asked why they let Smith out but not her children. The traffic light that Smith said he stopped at when his car was pulled over would only turn red if another car was waiting to cross the street, and Smith said there were no other cars around. Other bits and pieces of the story didn’t make sense.

Smith eventually admitted to letting his car roll down a boat ramp and into the lake. An image reconstructed by researchers showed it took six minutes for the Mazda to sink below the surface, while cameras inside the vehicle showed water flowing into the vents and rising steadily. The boys’ bodies were found hanging upside down in their car seats, one small hand pressed against the window.

Prosecutors said Smith was having an affair with the wealthy son of the owner of the business where she worked. He broke off the relationship because he had two young sons.

Smith’s lawyers said Smith was remorseful, had a mental breakdown and planned to die with her children, but got out of the car at the last moment.

The young mother’s 1995 trial became a national sensation and a true crime touchstone, even though it was not televised by a judge who was concerned about what cameras were doing to the ongoing OJ Simpson murder trial at the same time. Her lawyers worked to save her life, stating that Smith’s father killed himself and that her stepfather, along with the owner of the business where she worked, had sex with her.

From prison, Smith can make phone calls and respond to text messages, most from journalists and interested parties. These messages and phone calls were released under South Carolina’s open records law; This was something Smith didn’t initially think could happen. She said the violation of her privacy upset her, as did the public revelation that she was juggling conversations about the future with several men.

Some men know why she’s famous. Others are more reserved. Someone told him he would use the birthday dates of himself and his sons who died while playing the Powerball lottery. Others chatted about their lives and sports. Many promised him a home and a happy life outside.

In some of her messages, Smith says she still feels sorry for her children.

“I’m really sad today and just want to hang out in bed. Today is my youngest son’s birthday, he would be 30 years old today. Hard to believe,” Smith wrote in August 2023.

Smith also had sex with guards. According to former prosecutor Tommy Pope, she violated prison policies by giving the contact information of friends, family members and her ex-husband to a documentary producer who discussed paying her for her help.

“The jury believed that he received a life sentence and that he should serve that sentence,” Pope said shortly after his parole hearing was announced last month.