Susan Smith, who drowned her two children 30 years ago, is up for parole

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Susan Smith, who shocked the nation 30 years ago when she rolled her car into a lake with her two children inside and watched them drown, will ask a parole board Wednesday to release her from prison.

Smith will testify virtually to the seven-person panel about why she believes she is ready to re-enter society. The board must approve parole with a simple majority vote in order to release her.

Almost 30 years ago to the day, Susan Smith made international headlines when she said she was carjacked late at night near Union, South Carolina, by a Black man.

She told police the man drove away with her 3-year-old son, Michael, and 14-month-old son, Alex, inside. Her report led to a nine-day manhunt during which Smith and her estranged husband, David Smith, pleaded on national TV for their safe return.

The case drew massive media attention, including Susan Smith saying on NBC's "TODAY" show that, "as a mother, it's only a natural instinct to protect your children from any harm, and the hardest part of this whole ordeal is not knowing if your children are getting what they need to survive and it hurts."

Just hours after the Nov. 3, 1994, interview, Smith confessed to killing her sons, admitting to police that she had let her car roll into a nearby lake with the boys inside, watching as they drowned.

At her trial the next year, prosecutors argued that Smith killed her sons because of a relationship with a wealthy man who ended it because he did not want children. Smith's attorneys argued she was the victim of sexual assault by her stepfather and was suffering a mental breakdown when she killed her sons.

She was found guilty of murder and the jury sentenced her to life in prison, although prosecutors had sought the death penalty.

Smith, now 53, has had an eventful three decades behind bars in South Carolina, including multiple disciplinary actions. Her first infraction occurred in 1997 when she was caught with contraband, a razor.

In 2000, she was moved from the Women's Correctional Center after two prison guards pleaded guilty to having sexual encounters with her. Lt. Houston Cagle and Capt. Alfred R. Rowe Jr. were convicted of having sex with an inmate, following an investigation into prison guard conduct, according to Richland County criminal court records.

The following year, Smith violated rules by not standing for count and was restricted to her cell for 45 days. In 2010 and 2015, she was penalized with disciplinary detention and the loss of canteen privileges for using drugs, including marijuana, according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections .

Last month, Smith was convicted of an internal disciplinary charge after speaking with a documentary filmmaker in August. According to the incident report, Smith "discussed in depth the crime and the events leading up to and after it actually took place, including such details to what was in the trunk of the car when it went into the water and her plans to jump from a bridge while holding the boys but one woke up... Inmate Smith is profiting from her crime."

She lost her telephone, tablet and canteen privileges for 90 days.

While in prison, Smith has continued to argue in her defense. In a 2015 letter to The State newspaper in South Carolina, she wrote: "Something went very wrong that night. I was not myself. I was a good mother and I loved my boys... There was no motive as it was not even a planned event. I was not in my right mind... I am not the monster society thinks I am."

Under state law, Smith became eligible for parole on Nov. 4. The board grants parole to about 8% of violent offenders, according to publicly available data. As of Monday, 471 people had written to the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services regarding Smith's hearing. Only six of the letters were in favor of her release.

David Smith, now her ex-husband and the father of Michael and Alex, said he plans to address the parole board Wednesday to oppose her release. Former lead prosecutor and current South Carolina State Rep. Tommy Pope is also expected to speak in opposition.

Pope recently told The State , "I feel strongly that the death penalty was appropriate." He has said he believes the jury did not know a life sentence would give Smith the possibility of parole.

Even the ex-prison guard who was found guilty of having sex with Smith in 2000 told NewsNation recently , "[Smith's] prison record shows that she's not really learned anything," other than "how to do illegal drugs."

If she were granted parole, Smith would have to meet pre-release conditions regarding employment, residence, programming and detainers. If denied release, she could reapply in two years.