By MOLLY McDONOUGH
Staff Writer

UNION, S.C. (7/23/95) -- Susan Smith bowed her head in tears while her ex-husband, David Smith, gave a solemn look skyward Saturday when a jury convicted her of murdering their sons Oct. 25 in a nearby lake.

None of the 12 jurors looked at Smith when they re-entered the courtroom after two and a half hours of deliberations.

Smith leaned into her lawyer David Bruck, while the clerk read the verdicts. Bruck and co-counsel Judy Clarke stroked her hair, consoling her, while they polled the jury to affirm the votes.

The guilty verdicts mean Smith will now face the death penalty in the sentencing phase of her trial, scheduled to begin 9:30 a.m. Monday.

The verdicts also mean the jury rejected the defense's contention that Smith should be found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, which carries with it a sentence of no more than five years.

Instead, the jury decided Smith, 23, intended to kill her children when she caused her burgundy Mazda Protege to roll down a darkened boat ramp with her sons Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months, still strapped in the back.

Letting go of the hand brake was like pulling the trigger, Solicitor Tommy Pope told the jury during closing arguments.

"The intent was formed when she pulled the trigger to the car and let it drop down into the lake," Pope said.

Pope said he believed the children were not asleep when the car rolled down the gravel ramp.

"I submit those children were in the car... they were screaming and yelling and they were calling for their father while she was running up the hill," Pope said.

"If she truly wanted to stop the deaths of those boys she could have pulled the brake up."

The prosecution maintained to the last that Smith killed her children because she thought they were obstacles to her relationship with Tom Findlay, the son of wealthy textile executive Cary Findlay, with whom she also claimed having an affair.

Tom Findlay wrote Smith a letter a week before the drownings, ending the relationship in part because he didn't want children.

Pope said Findlay was on Smith's mind in the hours before and after she killed her boys.

"On the night of Oct. 25, Susan Smith made a choice - a horrible, horrible choice. She chose the love of a man over the love of those boys," Pope said.

"This case screams out for a verdict of murder."

Clarke, who closed for the defense, said the prosecution's motives were "absurd."

"Sadness is what brings us together - not evil," Clarke said. "The love of Susan Smith for those two boys was unbelievable. There is no evidence of anything but absolute unconditional love."

"This is a case about despair and sadness," she continued. "The only two people who loved her unconditionally are gone. She made that decision with a confused mind and a heart that has no hope."

Clarke asked the jury to make the decision for themselves.

"If Susan Smith put her children in the lake to get Tom Findlay, that is murder," Clarke said.

If she did it because of a failed suicide, Clarke said the verdict could be murder or involuntary manslaughter.

Also Saturday, presiding Judge William Howard excused a male juror because of ties to Susan or ex-husband David Smith's families and replaced him with the last alternate. The jury still consists of nine men and three women. Earlier in the week, Howard removed a female juror because of a guilty plea on a federal charge. Howard and lawyers went forward with the trial with only two alternates.

Testimony ended Saturday after jurors heard from Smith's cousin, a State Law Enforcement Division agent, Sheriff Howard Wells and a Department of Social Services case worker.

_ Jenny Ward, of Union, is the former Union County case worker who investigated Smith's family in 1989 when she reported her stepfather Beverly Russell was molesting her. Ward, who said Russell admitted to fondling and kissing Smith when she was 15, was shocked to discover law enforcement had decided to drop charges before she had a chance to talk to the family more.

After Ward began investigating, she met with Smith, her mother, Russell, his two lawyers and two police officers in a local law office. Ward said she was prepared to gather statements the next day when she was informed the case was closed. She said she disagreed with the decision and thought it might have been politically motivated. Russell, who owned his own business and came from a well respected family, was also a committeeman for the Republican Party.

"That is child sexual abuse. It is criminal in nature. The child said it, the perpetrator admitted it - that's a case," she said.

Since Smith and her mother had decided not to press charges, Ward said the matter was handled under seal in Family Court. "That's the only order I've had sealed in 20 years," Ward said.

Ward explained the lasting effects of child sexual abuse if someone is not properly treated. A child will experience a broken trust and many times will become promiscuous - seeking multiple relationships to gain love and approval.

She withstood cross examination by Tommy Pope, who asked if Smith was aggressive in her relationship with Russell.

"I hold adults responsible for adult behavior," Ward said.

She did, however, admit that she did not perceive Smith as suicidal or troubled when DSS and a Spartanburg therapist decided to reunite the family.

Leigh Harrison, 22, of Union, is Smith's first cousin, but said she is more like a sister since the two were reared less than five blocks apart. She testified about Smith being a loving mother, who doted over her young sons and never lost patience. "She was a beautiful mother," Harrison said. "There were so many times I caught myself watching her with her children. It was pure entertainment to me."

Harrison did say she worried about Smith being left alone to care for the babies. She remembered her cousin saying, "Lord, sometimes all three of us just sit here and cry together."

Steve Derrick, the SLED agent who inventoried Smith's car after it was recovered, was recalled to testify more fully about what he found in Smith's purse and trunk. He said there was a packed diaper bag and about 40 articles of maternity clothes. A photo introduced earlier this week by the prosecution showed about eight to 10 articles of clothing. The defense maintained Smith kept a messy car. The prosecution tried to show Smith's car as a coffin for her past, which also included a wedding album and a `Dear Jane' letter from Tom Findlay.

Wells was recalled to testify about a police incident report on Harry Vaughan's suicide, when Susan Smith was 6. The report includes an incident about an hour before his suicide, in which Vaughan was seen striking Smith's mother, Linda. The couple had recently divorced.

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