Susan Smith

For nine days Susan Smith captured the sympathy of her neighbors in Union, S.C., and the attention of much of the country with her tearful, televised pleas for her children's safe return. Townspeople put up yellow ribbons as signs of hope that Ms. Smith's little boys, ages 3 and 14 months, might be released unharmed by the carjacker she claimed had abducted them.But when Ms. Smith confessed under police questioning to having killed the children herself by drowning them in the family car, the town turned against her. Many residents said they felt shock and betrayal.

Susan M. Smith, a retired administrative assistant who enjoyed collecting antiques, died Sunday of cancer at Howard County General Hospital. The longtime Mount Airy resident was 64. Susan Marie Gordon was born in Lebanon, Pa., and later moved to Towson with her family. She was a 1962 graduate of Towson High School. Mrs. Smith had worked as an administrative assistant with the Prince George's County Board of Education and, in the early 1970s, with Auerbach and Simmons, a Silver Spring law firm.

Chicago. -- The jury that convicted Susan Smith for drowning her two children now must decide how she should be punished: by life in prison or death in South Carolina's electric chair.Once again, as it has from the beginning of this case, the question lingers: Is Smith herself a victim of lifelong mental torment who finally ''snapped'' that day at the lake? Or is she a depraved narcissist for whom the children were a burden?Along with a host of other recent cases, including those of Lorena Bobbitt, the battered Virginia woman who impulsively severed her husband's penis, and Lyle and Eric Menendez, who claimed that intense fear drove them to murder their wealthy parents, the Smith case highlights the law's ambivalence toward emotions.

On June 4, 2008, MICHAEL S. MEEHAN, JR; devoted father of Michael S. Meehan, III; former husband of Yael Israeli; loving son of Susan Smith and the late Michael S. Meehan, Sr.; dear brother of Jennifer L. and Katherine A. Meehan; grandson of Jacob and Helen Smith and Nona and the late Edward Meehan; uncle of Elizabeth and Samantha; friend of Patrick O'Neal and Richard Plantholt. Also survived by many other relatives and friends., A Memorial Service will be held at the family owned Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk Inc., 7922 Wise Avenue on Monday at 11 A.M. Interment Private.

She was about 12 years old and a student at Dundalk Middle School. I had come to talk to her class."What do you think should happen to Susan Smith?" she asked.For a moment, I couldn't place the name."The woman who drown-ded her children," the girl said.Oh, right, yeah, I said. Well, what do you think should happen to her?"I think they should put her in a car and push it in the water and drown her!" she said.Her classmates gave their vocal support.Our society would never do such a thing, of course.

Will any of us be able to feel safe if Susan Smith is allowed to live?Won't we always have the fear that if she someday gets out of prison, she might strap two more people into baby seats in her Mazda Protege and drown them in a lake?I certainly could not sleep well at night knowing I shared the same planet as her.Besides, killing her would be an act of feminism. Yes!Currently, there are few things more unequal in American life than how our government kills people. Consider:Murders committed by women in America: About 11 percent.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Susan Smith was expected to be in court today to hear a prosecutor announce that he intends to seek her execution if she is convicted of murder in the drowning deaths of her sons, Ms. Smith's lawyer says.Ms. Smith confessed in November to drowning her two sons, Michael, 3 and Alex, 14 months, by rolling her car into a lake near Union on Oct. 25. She initially claimed that the boys and car had disappeared in a carjacking.David Bruck, Ms. Smith's lawyer, said yesterday that solicitor Tommy Pope of Union telephoned Friday morning to tell Mr. Bruck of his decision to ask for the death penalty for Ms. Smith.

UNION, S.C. -- David Bruck should have some interesting reading this weekend.He'll have one of the first copies of "Beyond All Reason," David Smith's tell-all book about life with ex-wife Susan Smith, now on trial for killing their sons, Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months.Mr. Bruck, Susan Smith's attorney, reached an agreement with Kensington Publishing that was announced in court yesterday as Mrs. Smith's trial entered its fourth day. Only one juror was seated yesterday, bringing the total chosen to six.Mr.

UNION, S.C. -- No sooner had the prosecutor announced that he would go for the death penalty against Susan Vaughan Smith than her relatives assembled on the courthouse steps to plead for her life.Letting Ms. Smith live in a prison cell with the memory of the chilling deaths of her two little boys would be more cruel than executing her, they said yesterday."It's been a hard day for all of us," said Linda Russell, Ms. Smith's mother, visibly shaken. "Me and all of my family loved Michael and Alex.

On July 21, 2006, BRENT ALAN KURRLE, of Severna Park, MD, beloved husband of Donna N. Kurrle, loving father of Rebecca Kurrle and Dana Kurrle, dear brother of Christian Kurrle, Steven Kurrle, Susan Smith and Lisa Kupper. Family and friends are invited to BARRANCO & SONS P.A. SEVERNA PARK FUNERAL HOME, Ritchie Hwy at Robinson Road, on Monday 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 P.M. Services will be held Tuesday 11 A.M. at Severna Park United Methodist Church. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Magothy River Association.

On July 21, 2006, BRENT ALAN KURRLE, of Severna Park, MD, beloved husband of Donna N. Kurrle, loving father of Rebecca Kurrle and Dana Kurrle, dear brother of Christian Kurrle, Steven Kurrle, Susan Smith and Lisa Kupper. Family and friends are invited to BARRANCO & SONS P.A. SEVERNA PARK FUNERAL HOME, Ritchie Hwy at Robinson Road, on Monday 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 P.M. Services will be held Tuesday 11 A.M. at Severna Park United Methodist Church. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Magothy River Association.

On September 13, 2005, ALAN LOUIS BROOKS, 53, husband of Norma Brooks, father of Karla Morrison, Cortney, Amy, Alan Jr. and Victoria Brooks. Also survived by four grandchildren Kelsey, Kaitlyn, Aleyess and Jenna. Brother of Evelyn Barber, Beverly Smith, Patricia Smearman, Susan Smith, Linda Hogle, Dorothy Griffith, Larry, Jeanne, Stephen, Vernon and Rosalie Brooks. Contributions may be made to the National Cancer Society.

On April 4, 2004, NANCY LOU SMITH, beloved wife of the late Louis F. Smith, devoted mother of Louis F. Smith, III, Randy Smith, Susan Smith, Wendy Kyger, Benjamin Smith, and Nelson Smith; cherished grandmother of ten and loving sister of Rev. Larry Chambers and James Chambers. Friends may call at the family owned Evans Chapel of Memories - Parkville Tuesday & Wednesday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. A funeral service will be held 11 A.M., Thursday. Interment will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to the Cobb Island Baptist Church, Cobb Island, MD 20625.

A NEW SIGN in front of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Church in Ellicott City reads: "Pregnant? Need Help? 1-800-533-0093. The members of this church community see in the birth of each baby a fresh expression of God's unfailing love. We offer immediate and practical help to any woman faced with a crisis pregnancy."Next to the text on the blue and white sign is an image of the angel Gabriel standing behind a mother and baby. The sign announces that the parish is a member of the Gabriel Project.

Susan Smith says she knows there are people who might not understand why she wants to hear the tape of the final terrifying minutes of the ValuJet flight that caught fire and crashed in the Everglades in May, killing all 110 on board, including her 24-year-old son, Jay.According to a transcript of the tape, which has been released, the passengers were screaming that the plane was on fire."

Not three months after police said she confessed to killing her young daughters by setting a fire, Rene Elizabeth Aulton wrote a letter from jail to her boyfriend Frank Wooters, pleading with him to visit."

On September 13, 2005, ALAN LOUIS BROOKS, 53, husband of Norma Brooks, father of Karla Morrison, Cortney, Amy, Alan Jr. and Victoria Brooks. Also survived by four grandchildren Kelsey, Kaitlyn, Aleyess and Jenna. Brother of Evelyn Barber, Beverly Smith, Patricia Smearman, Susan Smith, Linda Hogle, Dorothy Griffith, Larry, Jeanne, Stephen, Vernon and Rosalie Brooks. Contributions may be made to the National Cancer Society.

On April 4, 2004, NANCY LOU SMITH, beloved wife of the late Louis F. Smith, devoted mother of Louis F. Smith, III, Randy Smith, Susan Smith, Wendy Kyger, Benjamin Smith, and Nelson Smith; cherished grandmother of ten and loving sister of Rev. Larry Chambers and James Chambers. Friends may call at the family owned Evans Chapel of Memories - Parkville Tuesday & Wednesday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. A funeral service will be held 11 A.M., Thursday. Interment will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to the Cobb Island Baptist Church, Cobb Island, MD 20625.

THE RECENT decision by a South Carolina jury to spare the life of confessed murderer Susan Smith and the continued refusal of a Philadelphia judge to reconsider the scheduled execution of black political activist and journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal demonstrate that the American criminal justice system is not color blind and does not value all human life equally.Susan Smith, a white woman, was convicted of killing her two sons. She originally had concocted a story that a black male carjacker kidnapped her two children.

UNION, S.C. -- A jury decided yesterday that Susan Smith should not be put to death for the drowning of her two young sons and instead should spend the rest of her life in prison, to remember.It took the jury 2 1/2 hours to reject the prosecution's request for the death penalty and settle on the life sentence.Its unanimous decision saved Smith from death row but left her alone in a tiny cell with the ghosts of her dead children for at least the next 30 years, her lawyer said."This young woman is in a lake of fire," said the lawyer, David Bruck.