Lawmakers press for tougher parole laws

ALBANY – Every two years, Dale and Dori Robie have to make their case to the state Parole Board to ensure their son's killer is not released from prison.

The Southern Tier couple compiles letters from friends and relatives that urge the state to keep behind bars Eric M. Smith, who brutally murdered their 4-year-old son, Derrick, in 1993. And Dale puts together a video of his son's life for the parole board to watch.

The Robies, victims' families and state lawmakers on Monday urged the state Legislature to pass a bill that would require violent felony offenders to wait five years, instead of the current two years, between parole hearings.

Supporters said the measure would alleviate the grief that families of victims have to go through every two years before the Parole Board.

"With current laws in place, families such as ours relive every two years the heartache of our loss," Dale Robie said at a news conference near the state Capitol.

Legislators said the law is needed to protect families in cases where violent felons are clearly not going to get out of prison on parole.

"We need to pass this law," said Assemblyman Phil Palmensano, R-Corning, Steuben County. "It is not fair that families have to go through this ordeal and relive this tragedy every 24 months."

The bill has support in the Republican-led Senate, but has faced resistance in the Democratic-led Assembly. Advocates said there has been concern from some lawmakers that the measure could provide a disincentive for violent felons to rehabilitate.

But Sen. Thomas O'Mara, R-Big Flats, Chemung County, said the bill would only give the Parole Board the option to delay parole for the most violent offenders who committed class A felonies. Also, with new leadership in the Assembly this year, lawmakers are hopeful the bill, which has languished in recent years, could gain enough support to be adopted.

"This is about the victim. It's about the victim's family that has to relive this nightmare every other year, going through the parole process," O'Mara said. "It's not right. It's not fair."

Derrick Robie's death drew national attention.

Now 35, Smith was 13 when he lured Derrick into a wooded area near the boy's Savona, Steuben County, home and violently killed the boy as Derrick walked to summer camp at a nearby park.

Smith was convicted a year later and sentenced to 9 years to life in prison. He's been denied parole seven times and is up again for review next year as he serves his sentence at the Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County near Buffalo.

Dorie Robie said she's merely looking for some peace for her family.

"Everything that I've squelched and healed over for a year and a half is gone," she said. "So this really is not fair to these families."

Joseph Spector: JSPECTOR@Gannett.com; Twitter: @gannettalbany