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he was convicted of a monstrous act eric smith has served 28 years for the killing of four-year-old derek roby in
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1993. we never forget our boy cause he was you know a wonderful child and we miss
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him terribly [Music] yeah a lot of people don't know the full gamma of what we go through
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and nor should they right i i wouldn't wish this on anyone it's the first time i've ever let him go anywhere alone and
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it was one block down the same side of the street [Music] when you have a family member that has
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been murdered [Music] every time that inmate is up for parole you relive i think what happened
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there are clearly people who make choices which reflect pure evil in my view this heads the list
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the events of that morning of august 2nd 1993 riding through the woods he gave me a kiss and i said i love you
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he says i love you mom and he went happen off the sidewalk at some point during the midday i
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learned that a child was missing in the village of savona and consequently a search for derek
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began late in the afternoon the body of derek roby was found it was just a brutal brutal
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killing i've lost my boy you know we've lost him he's gone our instinct was to believe the killer
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was some adult evil person [Music] and it's another kid what do you think is going to happen
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so you find the defendant guilty of murder in the second degree yes is that unanimous yes
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eric smith was sentenced to nine years to life in prison first time before the parole board
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denied we knew the first one was coming but then after that we got to do this every two years
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for them every two years must have felt like every 10 minutes second time for the panel denied
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it upsets me the fact that we have to beg to keep this killer behind bars can you foresee the day when you would say i
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don't care whether they might or not no we'll take this pain to our grave 2006 parole denied 2008 parole denied
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you can label me a monster a cold-blooded killer a demon child satan incarnate 2010 parole denied 2012
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denied i don't care what the name you give me doesn't mean that that's the lion 2014 2016 2018 denied denied denied
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i can live in society and function as any other normal individual oh that last sentence was a chilling one
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another normal individual boy is that a reach parole granted eric smith who gained national attention
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almost three decades ago for killing a four-year-old has been set free in savona there's one
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small grocery store on the main street and all i could imagine was doreen roby standing in line
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at the checkout line and looking behind her and seeing the person who killed her son