SC gov-elect won't let Winfrey interview Smith

[December 31, 2010]  COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina's new governor won't grant Oprah Winfrey a prison interview she's been trying to get for a decade with a woman who drowned her two young sons.

Susan Smith is serving a life sentence for killing 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex in 1994 by strapping them into their car seats and driving the car into a pond. She has not been interviewed since being charged. On Wednesday's show, a Winfrey staffer said she has been trying to arrange an interview.

Winfrey suggested on the show that Gov.-elect Nikki Haley could change prison rules that prohibit media interviews.

Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey said Thursday that Winfrey won't get her wish. He says Smith got enough attention when she originally claimed she was carjacked before the truth came out.

[Associated Press]

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