Victoria E. Freile & AP

For the seventh straight time, child killer Eric M. Smith has been denied parole.

Smith, who was convicted of killing 4-year-old Derrick Robie in Steuben County in August 1993, went before the parole board on Friday. The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision on Monday announced that the three-member board has again denied Smith's parole.

The parole board said the "serious and brutal" crime is more compelling than Smith's clean disciplinary record, positive prison programming and release plans.

The board also noted "significant community opposition" to Smith's release from prison.

Smith, now 34, is in the maximum-security Collins Correctional Facility in Erie County, about 25 miles south of Buffalo where he is serving nine years to life in prison.

He was 13 when he lured Derrick Robie into a wooded area near the boy's Savona home. Derrick was walking alone to a summer camp at a nearby park. Smith strangled Derrick, smashed his head with a rock and sodomized him with a stick.

His lawyer at the time tried to persuade a jury that Smith suffered from a mental disorder, but Smith was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to nine years to life in prison.

Smith was housed in a juvenile facility until 2001, when he was transferred to state prison.

He is eligible for parole every two years and was first denied parole in August 2002. Smith is next scheduled to appear before the parole board in April 2016.

VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com

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