From staff reports

(7/28/95) -- The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson has sent a letter to two Union ministers, the Rev. A.L. Brackett of St. Paul Baptist Church and the Rev. Tom Currie of First Presbyterian Church, asking them to pray that Susan Smith's life be spared.

Jackson says in his letter Smith was "in a state of sickness, bewilderment and passion" when she killed her sons Michael, 3, and Alex, 14 months.

He cited numerous Bible verses that he said were reasons Smith should not be given the death sentence. One of them was: "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord."

Jackson said Smith's claim that a black man took her children "compounded the crisis." In November Jackson traveled to Union and spoke at Union High School and several other locations, calling for unity in the community.

In his letter to the ministers, Jackson said Smith should not sentenced to death. Instead, he said justice would be better served by condemning her to life in prison.

David Smith will be on ABC's "20/20" television show tonight at 10 p.m. discussing his relationship with his ex-wife Susan Smith.

Barbara Walters talks with David Smith about what kind of sentence he wants to see for his ex-wife, their rocky marriage and what Susan Smith was like during the nine days before she confessed to drowning her two sons, Michael and Alex, in a Union County lake.

Smith also discusses the kind of mother Susan Smith was and about her troubled childhood, including her father's suicide and her stepfather's molestation of her.

The interview, which was taped ahead of time, will take up about two-thirds of the hourlong program.

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