UNION, S.C. - Susan Smith - the mother who touched off a national furor six weeks ago when she confessed to killing her two young sons - was indicted Monday on murder charges and could face the death penalty if convicted.
But her lawyer says she's not scared of the electric chair.
"It's life that hurts, not the fear of death," says defense attorney David Bruck, an expert in death penalty cases.
Bruck hasn't disputed the 23-year-old's handwritten confession.
He says Smith, who was not in court Monday, went into "shock and denial" right after she sent her car rolling down a boat ramp Oct. 25 and into the waters of John D. Long Lake.
Michael Smith, 3, and his brother, Alex, 14 months, were strapped inside and drowned.
"The full horror of what has happened is bearing down on her now," Bruck says.
Although Smith's trial isn't likely to start until spring, prosecutor Tommy Pope says he'll announce after the holidays whether he'll seek the death penalty. Pope already has consulted with the boys' family, law enforcement officials and others.
Smith launched a national search for her sons - and sparked a nation's outrage - when she told police that a black man had stolen her car with the boys inside.
She stuck to her tale - with estranged and unsuspecting husband David by her side - until confessing Nov. 3.
A grand jury of 12 men and six women met secretly to hear the state's case against Smith, with only 12 votes needed for an indictment.
Townspeople remain divided over whether Smith should get the death penalty.
"Some people say they'd be glad to pull the switch," says Howard Free, who runs a downtown shoe repair shop. "Others say taking the life of a sick person is a sick thing."
Bruck says Smith's family is terrified she may be executed, and "visit (her) as often as they are allowed . . . once a week."
Smith is in a maximum security cell at a women's prison in Columbia where children's shows blaring from a TV in a nearby common area remind her that her sons are gone, Bruck says. "I don't think it's possible for Susan to feel any worse than she does."
He has blocked state attempts to have Smith examined by a psychiatrist, and he hasn't said whether he'll use an insanity defense.
His "duty to find out why" Smith killed her boys already has proven many of his first impressions wrong, Bruck says. Snippets of information already known about Smith range from her father's suicide when she was very young to her own suicide attempts as a girl, and an alleged sexual assault by a family member.
Bruck would not discuss Smith's past but said: "People are just more complicated than what we can put together out of bits and pieces. They don't give a very full picture."
He says he still can't answer the question that nags a nation: What made her do it?
"She does not know what happened or why," Bruck says. "She does not understand it."
