A New York man who was 13 years old when he killed a 4-year-old boy with a rock has been granted parole and will live in Queens.
Eric Smith, 42, who served almost 28 years in prison for the 1993 murder of a 4-year-old Steuben County child when he was only 13 years old has been released from prison to live downstate in Queens, according to an agency spokesperson.
Smith is an American convicted of the murder of four-year-old Derrick Robie on August 2, 1993, in Steuben County, New York. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 1994 and sentenced to the maximum term then available for juvenile murderers: a minimum of nine years to life in prison.
Smith lured Robie into a wooded area near the boy’s home when he was walking alone to a summer camp at a nearby park at the time. Smith then strangled Robie, smashed his head with a rock, and sexually abused him.
Smith was taken into custody about a week later and confessed to the crime. The case received national attention due to the nature of the crime. He was released on February 1, from the Woodbourne Correctional Facility in Sullivan Country.
According to the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and DOCCS, Smith will live and be supervised in Queens Country, New York for the standard conditions of NYS Parole, Smith will be required to notify the Community Supervision Office of his arrival within 24 of his release.
In Smith’s last parole hearing, he said he would likely stay with his mother until he can find his place, but his mother Tammy Smith’s address is unknown. He then plans to either get an apartment or put a down payment on a house of his own and hopefully move in with his Fiancé.
Steuben Country District Attorney John Tunney said in Smith’s early parole hearings that he expressed his wishes to return to Savona Village. However, according to a 2021 article in the Steuben Courier, Smith had changed his mind and said he would not want to return to Savona.
This comes 2 and a half months after his original scheduled release date of November 17, 2021. He was granted parole in October 2021 after being in prison for nearly 28 years; however, his release was delayed for months because Smith hadn’t gotten an approval address, a requirement for parolees.
Brooks Baker of Steuben Country District Attorney who assisted Tunney in the Smith case 28 years ago told 18 News: “It was one of the most shocking and tragic collections of events I’ve ever been had the misfortune to be around.”
“So, the idea he’s being released is still difficult for most of us to stomach, but I guess that unfortunately that ship is sailed and that’s a decision made by state parole and not by anybody else so we can’t influence at this stage,” he added.
Baker also believes that even though Smith is out of prison, the community might be feeling relief that he isn’t back in Steuben County.
Baker explained: “Steuben County is a small tight-knit community across the board; Savona is particularly. So the idea that he would come back to a place that he’s so traumatized, and this crime traumatized the entire community, galvanized the entire community…”
“The idea of him being back here and being on the streets with all those people who were so affected by this crime particularly into Savona itself where the victim’s family still lives… there is no degree of separation between many of the families,” he added.
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