Smith’s Lawyer Seeking a Trial Minus Cameras

The attorney for Susan Smith, who is accused of killing her two sons, has filed a legal motion to keep cameras and electronic broadcast media out of court during the trial.

A hearing on the motion will be held later this month. Officials said the screening of jurors for the high-profile trial, set to start July 10, has already begun with a questionnaire sent to potential panelists regarding such issues as sexual abuse, mental illness and children.

Judge William Howard ordered the questionnaires sent to 250 Union County residents along with jury summonses for the trial, according to a court clerk.

Smith, 23, confessed to drowning her two young sons by letting her car roll down a boat ramp into a lake with the boys strapped in child safety seats last Oct. 25. But she has not yet entered a plea and her attorney has not revealed how he will fight the two first-degree murder charges in the deaths of 3-year-old Michael and Alex, 14 months.

Smith confessed to their murders on Nov. 3, saying she was upset by a failed relationship.