Jurors in Susan Smith's murder trial heard the words written by an ex-boyfriend that prosecutors say drove the young mother to kill her two sons: "I just don't want children."
In a letter to Smith written a week before 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex were drowned in a lake, Tom Findlay described her as "intelligent, beautiful, sensitive, understanding."But he said the two of them could not have a relationship, in part because he does not want children.
"Susan, I could really fall for you. But like I have told you before, there are some things about you that aren't suited for me, and yes, I am speaking about your children," he wrote.
"I'm sure that your kids are good kids, but it really wouldn't matter how good they may be . . . the fact is, I just don't want children."
The typed letter, written Oct. 17 and given to Smith on Oct. 18, was read aloud in court Wednesday during Findlay's testimony.
He told the jury during more than two hours of testimony that Smith is "very caring, very loving - a good friend to everyone." But he also said she claimed to have had sex with his father and her stepfather, then later recanted the story about Findlay's father - who also was her boss.
Findlay testified that Smith had three conversations with him Oct. 25, the day she sent her car rolling into John D. Long Lake with the boys strapped inside.
The first time, she told him her ex-husband threatened to tell people she had sex with his father, Cary Findlay, and her stepfather, Beverly Russell.
The next time, she tried to return his sweatshirt.
"She said, `I want to give you this because I may not see you again,"' Findlay said. "It seemed very clear she was suicidal."
The third time, she returned with her sons and a friend, Susan Brown, and recanted the story about his father, Findlay said. She seemed a little shaken, but less distraught than earlier, he said.
Smith, 23, could face the death penalty if convicted. Before confessing, she claimed for nine days that a black carjacker abducted the boys.
Defense lawyers have portrayed the deaths as a failed suicide by a woman under great mental pressure. Prosecutors say she drowned her sons because they got in the way of her love affair.
If she is found guilty, or guilty but mentally ill, she could be sentenced to die.
Prosecutors rested their case against Smith on Tuesday after the forensic pathologist who performed autopsies on the two drowned boys testified she found no marks of violence on them.