Word: smith
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...bitter coda to its videotaped, six-minute reenactment ofSusan Smith's car sinking with her two young boys inside, the prosecution rested its case in the sentencing phase today by showing stone-faced jurors photographs ofthe drowned children. Since the trial began, TIME's Lisa Towle notes, Judge William Howard has disallowed all photos of the boys, and today he prevented the prosecution from displaying full-body or face-on shots. But Towle says those permitted today were damaging enough, showing the toddlers' bodies strapped securely to the seats -- "their legs and feet and the teddy bears in the back...
Only moments after David Smith completed devastating testimony that evoked sobs from jurors, a truck pulled up to the Union, S.C. courthouse with freshly-printed copies of his book about the tragedy: "Beyond All Reason: My Life withSusan Smith." On the stand, Smith tearfully described his drowned sons at his ex-wife's sentencing hearing. "All my hopes, all my dreams, everything that I had planned for the rest of my life, it ended that day," he said, hoping his sorrowful display would convince all 12 jurors -- some of whom have expressed doubts -- that Smith deserves the death penalty...
Jurors were stunned by a videotaped re-enactment of the sinking of Smith's car, shot by a camera mounted inside, from the drowning toddlers' point of view. "The camera had been mounted in the back, situated so that it would be between the two baby seats," Towle says. "The car took 5 minutes 52 seconds to sink. And 2 minutes and 10 or 11 seconds into it, you saw the water. It was agonizingly slow. And then a bubble floats up and you begin to see the water seep in -- it had a greenish brown tinge -- until the entire...
...jury was chosen for the trial of Susan Smith, the South Carolina mother accused of drowning her two sons in a car last year. The judge in the case found her competent to stand trial, following the recommendation of a state psychiatrist, despite the expert's opinion that Smith is suicidal and could try to sabotage her defense if she takes the stand. The prosecution seeks the death penalty and has reportedly denied a defense offer of 30 years in prison...
...possible mistrial in theSusan Smithmurder trial was thrown out by Circuit Judge William Howard, who ruled that an accidental contact between a juror and a member of the Smith family--apparently in a hotel laundry room--was of no importance. Sara Singleton, grandmother of Susan Smith's ex-husband, said "it was innocent. . . it was stupid," in comments that seemed to confirm she was the family member in question. The sentencing phase of the trial, which began today, could last up to a week. Smith was found guilty of two counts of murder last Saturday...