
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 17, 1995                   TAG: 9501170125
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: UNION, S.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

TRIAL DATE SET FOR S.C. MOM IN DROWNINGS

Susan Smith covered her eyes and sobbed Monday as the charges detailing how she drowned her two young sons were read in court and the prosecutor promised to seek the death penalty.

After her lawyer said she was not ready to enter a plea, Smith was led back to the defense table, wiping her hands across her face several times as her tears continued.

Judge Costa Pleicones entered an innocent plea on her behalf and set a trial for April 24.

Prosecutor Tommy Pope said he will seek to have Smith killed in the electric chair. He said execution would be warranted because of two aggravating circumstances: killing two or more people, and killing a child younger than 11.

Two months ago, Smith told the world that a carjacker had driven off with her boys, 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex. For nine days, she made tearful pleas for the carjacker to return them. The town helped search and prayed for the boys' safety. Then she confessed that she had sent her own car plowing into a lake with the boys strapped inside.

After she confessed to police and the children's bodies were found submerged in her car on Nov. 3, people in Union turned from supporting one of their own to horror at her deed.

At her first court appearance two months ago, one woman shouted, ``Hold your head up! You're a baby murderer!'' Another yelled out that she should die like her sons.

There were no angry outbursts Monday. Much of the venom in her hometown, a rural community about 60 miles northwest of Columbia, seems to have subsided.

``There's some people that say probably the best punishment she could get would be to leave her the way she is now, to have to live day to day with those thoughts in her mind,'' Union County Council Chairman Donnie Betenbaugh said.

In her confession, Smith said she was suicidal and ``emotionally distraught'' over unrequited love Oct. 25. Smith, who was divorcing her husband, said she felt she could not be a good mother, ``but I didn't want my children to grow up without a mom. I felt I had to end our lives to protect us all from any grief or harm.''

``My children, Michael and Alex, are with our Heavenly Father now, and I know that they will never be hurt again. As a mom, that means more than I can say,'' she wrote.

by CNB