By GARY HENDERSON and CLAY MURPHY
Staff Writers

UNION, S.C. (7/23/95) -- David Smith's family was pleased with the guilty verdict a jury returned Saturday against Susan Smith for the drownings of their sons last fall in a Union County lake.

"The family thinks the jury arrived at the right decision," said Doug Smith, David Smith's uncle and family spokesman. "We are relieved that this portion of the trial is over."

Smith family and friends waited in an upstairs law library at the Union County Courthouse while the jury deliberated.

"We watched the media down on the street and talked about a variety of things, including the weather," said family friend, Barry Medford.

"We just tried to stay calm."

After the verdicts, David Smith, his father Charles David Smith and his stepmother Susan Smith were driven away from the Union County Courthouse in a State Law Enforcement Division cruiser.

As the car sped away David and his father pressed photographs of 14-month-old Alex and 3-year-old Michael up to the windows of the car.

Scotty Vaughan, Susan Smith's brother, declined to comment.

People milling around the courthouse had mixed feelings about the verdict.

Dot Frost, who often watched Smith play with her children from her home across the street, left the courthouse in tears when the jury began deliberating.

"She's been torn up since they started this," said Earl Frost about his wife. "This has gotten to her alright."

Mrs. Frost said through sobs that she thinks of Smith as a victim deserving of sympathy.

"They should go after the ones that hurt her," she said, referring to reports that Smith was molested by her stepfather and stalked by her estranged husband. "They hurt her like hell."

But others who knew Smith before the October tragedy are less merciful.

"She needs to be locked up," said fellow Union High School graduate Lisa Lovingood. "I don't think she should get the death penalty."

Lawayne Anderson, a former co-worker at Conso, said she was holding out for a lesser sentence.

"The Susan before this wouldn't have killed those children," said the 23-year-old mother of one. "It's just not right."

Earlier in the day, presiding Judge William Howard allowed the jury to consider the charge of involuntary manslaughter, which carries with it a sentence of no more than five years.

People around the courthouse and a nearby shopping center were surprised and even angry about the manslaughter charge.

While some opposed the death penalty, they said five years wasn't long enough. Others said despite the emotional testimony about Smith's troubled life, she deserved to die.

"Yes, she had a horrid life," said Dorothy Milbro, 45, of Spartanburg. "But she took those babies' life. She should die too."

A couple from Aiken, whose son was born 26 weeks premature, was glad Smith was convicted of murder.

"Who could kill something like that?" said Stacey Toole, 27, as he pointed to his 9-month-old son. "It takes a sick person to kill a baby."

"I can't see a mother, molested or not molested, kill her flesh and blood like that," said Toole's wife, Mary.

Throughout the day Saturday, the street in front of the Union County Courthouse took on a festive atmosphere, as vendors sold hot dogs, soft drinks, and lemon and strawberry Italian ices.

As the day wore on, more and more people showed up. By 6 p.m., after the jury had begun deliberating, several hundred people had gathered. Some ate food they had brought in as most of the vendors had sold out.

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