Steuben County Child Killer’s Parole is Denied

A Steuben County man, who was convicted as a 13 year old in the brutal murder of a four year old Savona boy, will not be getting out of prison.

Parole has been denied for a 6^th time for Eric Smith who lured Derick Robie into a wooded area in 1993, beat, strangled and sodomized the younger boy in what has been called one of the most gruesome murder cases in the Southern Tier.

The Parole Board noted Smith’s model behavior in his two decades in prison but said the brutality of the crime and community opposition to Smith’s release played into the denial decision.

Smith, who is now 34 years old, is due for his next parole hearing in two years.

He is being held at the Collins Correctional Facility.