The question for me would be the why of why she did it. There's no question that she did.
1. The prosecutors claimed that she killed her kids to start a new life with another guy. If so, the jury f'd up by not giving her the death penalty. No way she should get out.
2. The defense claimed that she was extremely troubled and had major depression and meant to kill herself with her kids. (See below). If that's true I could see her getting paroled at some point. But I'd have to KNOW that #1 was not correct and #2 was.
This comes from wikipedia, so take it for what it's worth:
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Smith's father died by suicide when she was six years old, and Smith herself attempted suicide at age 13. Her mother then married Beverly C. Russell Jr. who later was revealed to have
molested Smith when she was a teenager. Russell was a local businessman who later gained prominence in South Carolina's Republican Party and the Christian Coalition. Both Smith and Russell have stated that sexual relations between them continued until six months before the murders.
[7][8]
After graduating from
high school in 1989, Smith made a second suicide attempt after a married man she was in a relationship with ended their
affair.
[9] She married David Smith, and they had two sons. The relationship was rocky due to mutual allegations of
infidelity, and they separated several times.
[10]
In 2000, two correctional officers at the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution, Lieutenant Houston Cagle and Captain Alfred R. Rowe Jr., were charged after having sex with her.
[18] Consequently, she was moved to the Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood.
[19]
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