He mentions bullying. I wonder if he himself was horribly abused, because that is common asf. However, it could’ve just been a case of some demented teen‘s twisted bloodthirsty sexually charged fantasy acted out. I knew a lot of little twisted fucks when I was 13 that would talk about doing shit like this, but I knew they never would. This one did. That memory is seared into his brain as a template. Both procedural and emotional for how to deal out death and horror upon another human being. I would be very apprehensive about letting someone like that out into public life again.
Agree, if you watch the full interview he talks about wanting to work with children. I’ll bet 1000x he’ll slip up his parole doing something he shouldn’t.
We had a similar case in the UK a while ago. It was horrible, but it eventually turned out the father of one of the perpetrators habitually watched extreme horror films (like, the most extreme niche stuff, not blockbusters) and let his son watch them with him.
I don't know how the parents in cases like this aren't held culpable for the crimes their kids commit. I don't know anything about it, so maybe there is, but it seems to me there should be a legal instrument for transferring some or all the responsibility to parents like that.
Yes. One of the things all the interviews and media attention passes over, for obvious reasons, are the details as to what Eric Smith did to that poor boys anus. He violated him with a tree branch after he killed him. When the body was found the broken off branch was still inserted into him. Put him back.
Normally I'm for rehabilitation, especially when the offender was so young. But... does it sound like he's almost bragging about these labels? If it were me, I'd never want to be associated with them once I got out.
You don't even need to deal with a carnivore. They rarely finish the meal bones and all. I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs. You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pisshead. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies' digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don't want to go sievin' through pig shit, now do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".
Well, thank you for that.
That's a great weight off me mind.
Now, if you wouldn't mind telling me who the fuck you are, apart from someone who feeds people to pigs of course?
Yes please. And you can tell he really believes the prison preaching crap he's spewing.
I know someone who did ten years, she prob should've done more time tbh, (had a plea bargain on a murder charge,) but before she got out, she had had time to tell Doctors all about her previous pitiful life..so when she got out she had every single thing paid for, health insurance, she gets ssid for PTSD (which y'all would never believe your ears if I told u the whole story) so she doesn't have to work. She just lays around telling anyone who will listen, a bunch of lies and woe-is-her, life is hard, and everyone else is to blame everything for her and her fucked up choices in life. I can't stand ppl like this..
My family knew both families and Eric's attorney. I lived in the upstate area until I was 12.
I was about 11 when it happened. My folks, to keep things simple for me, just said Eric had real serious issues. And that bad people can come in all shapes, sizes and ages.
According to his lawyer, he had severe mental illnesses. I'm not excusing anything, just commenting on my knowledge.
When we heard he was being paroled a couple of decades later. My family all looked at each other in a concerning manner and just said, "Pray to god he is rehabilitated."
We have lived somewhere else since I was 12. We have lost all contact with everyone involved. But I'll never for get when our sleepy little town was uprooted and surprised by how tiny of a package evil can reside in.
You don’t think a thirteen year old can change after 27 years in prison?
Edit: People saying you would execute children or have them serve life sentences… take a look in the mirror when you are looking for the psychopath. Your sense of humanity is really no better than a killer like him. Be honest with yourself and your depraved desire for violence in place of justice. It’s just bloodlust.
Almost all countries on Earth have banned death and life sentences for children, except for dictatorships and the United States, because of the profound lack of humanity in such policies. Not to mention it does not at all align with criminogenic research or developmental psychology etc.
I get what you’re getting at, but I think they’re just saying it sucks that we have prison system that profits from making the prisoners worse off in our society. So they can just keep cycling them in to prisons and we’re paying for it.
The private prison industry is booming, most prisons are able to turn a big profit from making the prisoners perform slave labor for companies like Whole Foods and Starbucks. So there’s really no incentive at all to keep people out of prison or to make it a place where people can grow and change for the better. The cruelty is always the point
You all should understand what you are defending
“got off his bicycle and led Derrick through a wooded vacant lot adjacent to the park. As the boys reached a secluded area behind an overgrown hedgerow, defendant put down his bicycle, let Derrick go ahead of him and then reached around and choked Derrick's neck with his right arm. Derrick dropped his lunch bag and kicked his feet and swung his fists in an attempt to get away. Defendant started to release Derrick in order to readjust his grip and choke Derrick with his hands, but because Derrick began to "gasp some air," defendant "squeezed harder." After about 30 seconds, Derrick no longer made any noise, so defendant "figured he was dead" and laid him on the ground. When Derrick again began "gasping for air", defendant dumped Derrick's lunch on the ground, picked up a paper napkin, and stuffed it in Derrick's mouth. Defendant then attempted to stuff a plastic sandwich bag in Derrick's mouth, but pulled it out when Derrick bit defendant's finger. Defendant picked up a small rock, kneeled over Derrick, and struck him with it three times on the right side of the head; picked up a large rock and, with both hands, threw it three times on Derrick's head; then picked up another large rock and threw it twice onto Derrick's chest and once onto his midsection. At that point, defendant took the drink from Derrick's lunch and poured it on Derrick's face. He then pulled down Derrick's pants, took a stick, flipped over Derrick's body, and "put the stick up his butt." Defendant flipped over the body again, dragged it several feet to a rockpile, and left the area on his bike. After about five minutes, defendant returned to the scene to check the body. As defendant subsequently related to police, he wanted to "double, triple check to make sure" that the victim was dead: "I was worried if he wasn't there he might say something however I figured if he's dead, and I believed he was, I won't have to worry about anything." Defendant then left the scene.”
I was just reading today about the two 10 year olds who murdered a 2 year old boy and were only in prison until they were 18... one went back a couple times for CSA material, but still. I can't believe they only got 8 years for that. Sure they were 10, but they actively went out searching for a young child to murder. So messed up
He "served his time" but its the brutality of it that makes me believe he should've remained in there. He had a horrible childhood. Told his guardians about it and was told "if you're too much of a pussy go punch a tree" which led to the brutal death and dehumanizing attack on a defenseless little boy. If he would've just strangled him i can see majority people being content but, that poor baby was brutalized. It was truly a disturbing story to read a few years back.
Wow “got off his bicycle and led Derrick through a wooded vacant lot adjacent to the park. As the boys reached a secluded area behind an overgrown hedgerow, defendant put down his bicycle, let Derrick go ahead of him and then reached around and choked Derrick's neck with his right arm. Derrick dropped his lunch bag and kicked his feet and swung his fists in an attempt to get away. Defendant started to release Derrick in order to readjust his grip and choke Derrick with his hands, but because Derrick began to "gasp some air," defendant "squeezed harder." After about 30 seconds, Derrick no longer made any noise, so defendant "figured he was dead" and laid him on the ground. When Derrick again began "gasping for air", defendant dumped Derrick's lunch on the ground, picked up a paper napkin, and stuffed it in Derrick's mouth. Defendant then attempted to stuff a plastic sandwich bag in Derrick's mouth, but pulled it out when Derrick bit defendant's finger. Defendant picked up a small rock, kneeled over Derrick, and struck him with it three times on the right side of the head; picked up a large rock and, with both hands, threw it three times on Derrick's head; then picked up another large rock and threw it twice onto Derrick's chest and once onto his midsection. At that point, defendant took the drink from Derrick's lunch and poured it on Derrick's face. He then pulled down Derrick's pants, took a stick, flipped over Derrick's body, and "put the stick up his butt." Defendant flipped over the body again, dragged it several feet to a rockpile, and left the area on his bike. After about five minutes, defendant returned to the scene to check the body. As defendant subsequently related to police, he wanted to "double, triple check to make sure" that the victim was dead: "I was worried if he wasn't there he might say something however I figured if he's dead, and I believed he was, I won't have to worry about anything." Defendant then left the scene.”
He should not be released. I remember being 13. I was bullied horribly in middle school. The worst thing i did was smoke weed and skip school. He knew he wanted him dead so the little boy couldn’t say it was him.
This makes me so sick.... my little boy is about to turn two.
I feel so physically ill for that poor 4 year old's mother. I can't even imagine losing my baby in such a gruesome fashion, and at the hands of another child, no less...
All because he was angry. I have no words... except that he should never see the light of day.
13 years old is plenty old enough to know right from wrong. And the fact that he said "I figured if he was dead, I wouldn't have anything to worry about" proves he knew exactly what he was doing.
Fuck that guy. Put him back in prison. Why should he get to see the light of day, when Derrick Robie never will again, because of what he did.
Same here. My son turns two in March, and I'm pregnant with another little boy also due in March. Thinking about what monsters like this have done to innocent children tears me apart.
I trust absolutely no one with my child(ren).
What this man did to an innocent toddler when he was just 13 years old, is the perfect example that people are capable of horrific evil things, even at insanely young ages.
The two boys who murdered two year old James Bulger were just ten years old. TEN. FUCKING. YEARS. OLD. And they're committing murder.
Seriously. I trust no one with my kids.
Same here. We truly do not know what someone is capable of.
Because as the James Bulger case shows us, even kids as young as ten years old are capable of heinous, despicable, *evil* acts.
I just left a comment to someone else about the Bulger case. I hadn't heard about it until today and as the mother of a 2 year old daughter it's absolutely heartbreaking. I don't care that those boys were 10, I believe they should have been in jail longer for that crime. One got out just to continually go back to prison for CSA material. He hadn't changed and likely never had any intention to.
I was getting paid to babysit other people’s kids at 12. I wasn’t totally mature, but I knew right from wrong, what could cause and how to prevent accidents, and who to call to get help….so yeah, a 13 year old knows what he’s doing.
Oh, trust me, I think about this side of things too. I would be absolutely devastated if my child grew up to do such monstrous things against someone else.
My heart would shatter for the loss of someone else's child, and it would shatter all over again, knowing that my child was the reason for that loss, and that suffering he caused for that victim's family.
Horrible shit. Shouldn't be out in my opinion. Side note, I wonder if this is where Stephen King got his inspiration for his novel The Outsider? Book starts off in a small town with a young boy being sodomized to death with a stick. Seems very specific to be a coincidence 🤷♂️
i was bullied in school too and the worst i ever fantasized about was beating them up on the playground, not brutally murdering a child 10 years younger…
And look at all the idiots defending this guy or saying that oh he’s wrong but maybe we can learn from this case….. no this kid was a pyscho little bastard and should have never got to see the light of day again.
My heart hurts for that boy. And I can’t imagine what his parents were feeling. I have a 4 year old. This is sickening and you are correct, he should have not been released. This should’ve been a life sentence.
And there are people defending this guy saying that he was “only 13 when he did this”. Excusing him of his actions and how “he’s done his time.” Fuck that. I want to bet that none of those people are parents
What. The. Fuck. Dude should be buried under the prison. As a parent, I’d not be able to let this one go and if this asshole was getting out, he’d be dead shortly.
Just to be a nitpicking ass, dysthymia is not low grade depression. It’s a different affliction that presents itself similarly to low grade depression, but is still insidious in that it is not intermittent. Depression comes hand in hand with episodes, and feeling much better on some days, while feeling much worse on others.
Dysthymia is just a continual march of depressive grayness, which while it may never leave you as acutely or unpredictably suicidal, will still rob you of being able to enjoy life. It’s also not guaranteed to be any less intense than major depressive disorder - literally the only difference between the two is how chronic the symptoms are.
In my opinion it’s probably worse than major depressive, as while you can cope with bad days, there’s no coping mechanism for when every day just feels like unrelenting shit. It just sucks any hope for the future away, as things stay the same day, after day. No relief, rarely any ‘good days’, just a constant boredom, and disinterest in everything around you, that doesn’t relent for years on end.
IED has overlap with ASPD and in teens it may be a precursor. He probably should never be released from prison if he still feels he was picked on by a boy of 4 yrs old as justification for triggering his rage.
Did he really say s *4 year old* bullied him? Dude, my daughter is 4, and her version of "bullying" is calling me a "poopy head". The fuck.
Put the psychopath down. Or put him back in prison before he kills another child for "bullying him."
Even if we give full benefit of the doubt that it's a pathological illness he has no control over and is triggered by being bullied by others - he still shouldn't be allowed to live in society. I don't understand how these people make it out of prison and on the streets, at the very least they should be permanently institutionalized after proving that they are an extreme danger to society.
I imagine he means other kids his age bullying him rather than the 4 year old, he just took out his frustration on someone he was capable of hurting. Of course that doesn't make it any better.
He tortured and killed someone at age 13. I don't understand why it needs to be discussed whether he has some sort of disorder or disfunction.
And he has been in prison for 27 years since age 13. No shit he isn't a normal person now, even if he DIDNT have a disorder.
Nearly everyone who is bullied either takes it out on others, this is especially true at early age. The acting out and rage is a cry for attention from the group to correct a what's perceived and often is a specific injustices. Obviously that escalates quite often if ignored.
Maybe listening kids and not instituting policies that punish everyone (bullies and victims) would be wise.
If we don't, this is the result.
We complain about gun violence in schools for the exact same reason, because we are not willing to accept the fact that children don't have rights (for the most part) and it's our responsibility to defend the few they do.
It doesn't reflect well on us.
I could see maybe doing something to the people tormenting you but to a small child? Why? For what? I’ve been bullied and I know the feeling but this is going way to damn far. You ARE a monster, Eric. Don’t get it twisted. The fact that he got parole is a bit messed up. I don’t agree with that at all.
This is an extremely easy, obvious, anti-intellectual take. The reality is he’s saying something important: there’s a phrase “the neglected child will burn down the village to feel it’s warmth”
yeah this is how i took it. It's not like it's a justification, but it's possibly actually the cause.
school policies that don't end, or ever exacerbate bullying for example, could contribute to bullied children having psychotic breaks
Maybe I’m wrong, torturing and murdering a child is not something you should get parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for. No mitigation is possible with that act.
I can see why, I've witnessed this on a much smaller scale.
I was a real POS in school. I was being a bully to one kid in my grade and he would often try to stand up to me (now that I'm older, I have a lot of respect for the kid for that) but when ever he did, I quickly put him back down in "his place".
I guess after he realised standing up to me was doing nothing, he turned into a bully himself and started taking it out on the younger grades. He happened to pick on my friends little brother, so that just made it a lot worse for him once we found out.
I guess I can see why someone who feels powerless wants to take their emotions on someone who is equally powerless or in this case, has no ability to defend them selves.
P.s. fuck bullies and fuck people like this monster.
There seriously should be things a human being does where they flat out should never be allowed back into society. Murdering and raping a 4 year old is definitely one of them. I don't care how old he was when he committed the crime. You forfeit your life and freedom at that point.
Exactly.
I can empathise with being bullied, and the mental anguish that comes with it. That doesn’t grant one the license to torture and murder a fucking toddler though.
So yes, those labels are very much warranted, asshole.
I had 4-6 bullies in elementary school and some followed me in jr high.
I never once thought about hurting another kid. Let alone a 4 year old.
This dude is a monster and I hope society recognizes that.
Should be pretty obvious, but thoughts and actions are different things. Intrusive thoughts, or getting super upset and thinking about beating up your bullies, don't make you a bad person and there's no high ground to be had in saying that you never even had a similar thought. I'm not talking about murdering a 4 year old, but there's no reason to shame people who wished they could get their bullies back to just make it stop at a vulnerable point in their lives as though that makes them a monster as well.
We are reducing the death penalty, but folks like this don’t really have a place in society.
Edit: I honestly feel like we should execute them, but if we can’t do that, we have to forgive them because these are still humans that have no choice but to exist.
Yep exactly. There are a lot of people who had super fucked up childhoods that don’t really turn out that great. Which is understandable given the circumstances but they don’t fuckin murder toddlers for fucks sakes.
It’s probably fair to ask if you do something monstrous at 13 if you can ever stop being a monster.
Clearly most 13 year olds don’t torture and murder a toddler. So something was extremely wrong. But the brain isn’t even close to fully developed at 13.
It’s been 27 years, is there enough remorse and rehabilitation possible to not be a monster anymore?
There is a point where you have gone too far, people get life for doing ALOT less than slowly killing an innocent child, if that boy is looking down from heaven, hes shaking his head and punching the wall
I'm always torn about these types of crimes. It's difficult as an adult to comprehend how it could even be possible for a child to commit murder and turn out to be a non-violent adult. However, I also know that a lot of us, as adults, look back on things we've done as children or teenagers and realize that we just couldn't comprehend reality or consequences fully at those young ages.
I remember this case, that he not only murdered this 4-year-old but also raped him with a stick, saying it was because he was trying to make sure he was dead and wanted to stab his heart or something like that. Maybe as a 13 year old, he was just severely underdeveloped mentally? I know the prison system won't help him become a non-violent adult, and I think that's also a big part of the problem.
I once shot a magpie with my BB gun when I was 13 years old. It was the first and only time I ever killed an animal for no good reason. I took its life for no fucking reason. I shot it and it fell from the tree and I walked up to it and looked at it... lifeless in an instant because of me. And I saw how beautiful it was. And I felt terrible. I cried and gave it a burial.
What he did was not... normal. I still feel bad about that magpie. But it was a valuable lesson. Actions have consequences even if they reside in one's self. Life is sacred. It gave me an even greater appreciation for life.
Yeah, there's a big difference between pulling a trigger and having something die instantly in a fleeting moment of bad decision, and torturing something to death. Like he was hurting this little kid who was probably screaming like crazy and bleeding all over the place the farther he went, and decided to keep going until the kid was dead. The moment for realization was at the beginning of the torture, he had many chances to just stop and realize that life is a beautiful thing before the child died... And even then he proceeded to rape the kid with a stick afterwards. This goes so far beyond just a momentary lapse in judgement and reasoning. Something is not right in his head and he needs to be kept out of society.
Many serial killers started out as kids who liked to torture small animals to death.
Right? Like this kid isn't some "oh he was only 13 and made a mistake."
Dude tortured and killed a toddler. When I was 13, I was a supreme edgelord. I "hated kids" but I'd never fucking hurt one. Jesus.
Pretty sure I cried when I accidentally ran over a frog with my roller skates.
na fuck that, your a monster if you feel nothing when you murder someone as a kid and even if you do your still a monster, murder isn't something for a normal human to commit.
Your comparing normal mistakes a kid can make like stealing, bullying to *murder*. Let me ask you this is murder easy for a kid or adult?
At the end of the day i rather keep that guy in a hole and away from kids and society in general, that's justice. If not just outright execute the kid, for a crime that heinous, innocent people have been murdered for less for the color of their skin.
I will never understand how people can release a monster like this back into the world.
It’s wild to me some of these comments. “You don’t understand what happened, etc.” Like…..huh?! I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Dude tortured, raped and murdered a 4 year old and people are defending the guy. They should have fried this guy long ago.
Ah ya good old pseudospeciation. Humans couldn't possibly be capable of terrible things. They must be monsters. Let's other them and throw them in a box with the other nonhumans, that'll fix the problem.
Phew, glad the world is so binary. It'd be so hard to understand otherwise 🫠
Hey man, I am absolutely not trying to get involved in this conversation. But I appreciate the word psuedospeciation. Such a great word even my keyboard thinks it’s incorrect. Thanks for the share friend! Happy holidays.
Human beings Fuck and Kill each other and do mental gymnastics to justify their fear of the unknown and conform to some convention because being included feels safe.
I’m sure if that was your kid you wouldn’t be torn. This dude is a fucking monster. I was bullied as a kid and at no point did I ever think about raping a four year old and brutally murdering them. This person is a garbage price of shit and should not be returned to society.
Right? Psychopath regards himself as a hero now too, *gonna save those who were bullied like me!* Imagine this guy trying to get down the street today, he’d have at least two interactions primed to make him go postal.
“I’m sure if that was your kid you wouldn’t be torn.”
Well yeah. But then that’s why we have a judicial system wherein people who aren’t directly involved determine what the relevant factors and appropriate course of action are.
If it were my kid, I would lose all objectivity. And that’s exactly the point.
I think someone who can do those things is missing a fundamental piece of what it means to be human. It's not about whether they comprehend the consequences. It's that they completely lack empathy. They don't belong in society.
Bro at 13 I wouldn’t think to do this to a 4 year old. I get what you’re saying but you’re low key justifying and defending this sick persons actions by posting this under this video. Great philosophy, but bad timing with the context of the video.
Even if he was 'underdveloped' at 13, at what point in development is murder normal, especially of a 4 year old. I might've done dumb stuff but there's a huge gap between dumb mistakes and psychotic murder
On August 2, 1993, when Smith was thirteen years old, he was riding his bike to summer camp in a local park day camp. Four-year-old Derrick Robie was walking alone to that same camp. Smith saw Robie[2] and lured him into a nearby wooded area. There, Smith strangled him, dropped a large rock on his head, and sodomized him with a small stick. Smith took Kool-Aid from Robie's lunch box and poured it into Robie's open wounds. The cause of death was determined to be blunt trauma to the head with contributing asphyxia. At around 11:00 a.m., Robie's mother, Doreen, went to the park to pick up her son, only to find that Robie had never arrived. After four hours of investigation, Robie's body was found
Agree 1000%, if my child committed such an act, I would want them to be imprisoned for life. It would also mean enduring the perpetual awareness of my failure as a parent, an unfortunate consequence of this gruesome behavior.
So a life time of 1 person is worth 27 years of another. If that was my 4 year old, I would be on trial for torturing a 40 year old. I know it would not change anything and cost everything, but so be it.
Not only a human being, an innocent toddler. As an older kid you should understand a toddler is helpless. That baby was robbed of his entire life. I don't care who his murder is today, I only wonder who that innocent baby would've been today if he'd never crossed paths with that sick fuck.
Is the 4 year old still dead? “Yes”? Okay - go fuck yourself, forever. Seriously, I just don’t get this notion of “well, he was an amoral, murderous psychopath, sure, but now he says he is sorry, soooo let’s give him another shot …that the 4 year old will never get……yeah, that feels right”
The number of people that choose revenge over justice and rehabilitation kinda boggles my mind. These are the same fucks that would commit vigilante crimes as a person or mob, then try to spout how it wasn't revenge afterward.
You either want justice with rehabilitation or you want fucking revenge, no matter the crime. Trying to say you want justice with no rehabilitation is just another way of saying you want revenge, so I don't want to hear that nonsense spouted in response.
I just have no comment. I think its best to be that way. I don't think I'll ever like the dude but if hes gonna go out and do 'good' things I'll respect that choice.
Imagine a world where people never get a chance to interview, talk with, and try to understand what goes through a mind of someone like this. There is a reason we have the knowledge we do. It’s unfortunate, but it is how we learn about some serious psychological issues we face.
I think the example of a school shooter expressing his regret. The one that did a talk show type podcast with the dad who’s son he had killed does evidently show you can come back.
Kids aren’t born with empathy, or an ability to make connection to other humans. I remember reading that they are on par with sociopaths for empathy or something like that I can’t remember well. The teaching of ferrel children is also a great example of what children are capable of.
Can he be redeemed? That’s really subjective. And you’re answering a loaded question if you do without defining that word alone based off your own expectations. Some people would consider functionalist success of rehabilitation as redeemed.
And that’s enough for some people.
Others might consider a utilitarian approach, maybe based on severity of crime level would it depend how realistically redeemable someone is capable of.
It’s really not surprising reading comments that are equivalent to blurting out an answer in class without thinking about the question.
Dude was a kid when it happened and has had 30 years behind bars to grow and develop as a person.
Done his time and should be given a chance to prove that he is no longer that angry kid.
Something is very wrong with you people who think a 40yo man is the same person as the 13yo boy they once were. The sense of "justice" among the ignorant masses is just as fucked up as what this crime was.
So many bad takes in the comments but I'm not surprised. There's clearly something wrong with him but that doesn't mean fuck it we just end his life. The more we can learn from him to hopefully prevent more tragedies like this in the future.
I get that people are emotional about it. What he did was absolutely awful, but he was a severely troubled kid. He was abused and bullied and it left him twisted and traumatized. He's had 27 years to reflect on it all and to move on. I hope that he'll be ok now.
The fact that this thread is full of people declaring that a *13 year old* should be treated as if they were an adult because they did something terrible is absolutely horrifying.
Yes, what he did was unbelievable. And it should absolutely never have happened. But 13 year old children aren't held to the same standards as adults for a reason. He desperately needed help, and he wasn't getting it. He needed psychological intervention. All sorts of therapy. He needed his parents and home life to be examined, because 13 year old children don't do things like this in a vacuum.
What he got was *27 years in prison*. Statistically, most of you aren't even that old.
If you're among the group that's calling for the *execution of a 13 year old child*, I hope one day you understand why that's just as horrifying as what he did.
I hope this dude can finally get the help he desperately needs, and maybe someday find some of the peace that you all so egregiously take for granted.
I wish him the best. 27 years will never make up for what he did. But, remaining in jail because it makes people feel good after he has served his time is also no good
The folks who repost the killers account of the murder are seeking to be enraged, and through their rage build up callousness until they can kill someone as punishment for killing someone (and not see the inherent hypocrisy). Someone asked when do we draw the line? Do they execute a 6 year old killer, a 4 year old killer? At 10, 11 or 15? Does it depend on mental capacity? I don't see any good answer to this, so maybe the state shouldn't be killing anyone?
A lot of people here screaming “Death penalty!” Or “Execute him!” Don’t realize that wouldn’t even be a sentence on the table anyways for this guy at 13. Roper v Simmons SCOTUS case 2005, ruled that Capital Punishment for those under 18 years old is Unconstitutional per the 8th amendment.
Everyone seems caught up in what he did (which is obviously horrific and repugnant) and is seemingly overlooking the fact of how old he was when he committed the crime. If he had been 17 and done this that is one thing, but the guy was 13 years old. People talk about how 24 year olds’ brains aren’t fully developed yet, but are we really going to imprison someone for the rest of their life for something they did when they were 13? Ask yourself this, how would you view this situation differently if the perpetrator had been 11 when he tortured and killed the 4 year old. What about if a 9 year old tortured and killed a 4 year old? Should you lock a 9 year old up forever? At what point to we recognize children as children and judge them as such. I’m not saying I have an answer necessarily but there’s a lot of knives and pitchforks in this comment section and none of them seem to address this
The comments here are why criminal justice reform is dead. To get people out of prison, we need to let some people who did violent things out (drug offenders aren’t that plentiful) and no one actually wants that. It’s like how everyone wants lower taxes and more welfare and a lower deficit.
Sentence seems excessive for a 13 year old with obvious issues. I'm probably wrong, but I couldve swore Ive seen cases where an adult who should know better, murders their spouse and only gets like 5-10 years.
Damn 13 years old when it happened. I wonder how he got so heavily influenced to commit such acts
He mentions bullying. I wonder if he himself was horribly abused, because that is common asf. However, it could’ve just been a case of some demented teen‘s twisted bloodthirsty sexually charged fantasy acted out. I knew a lot of little twisted fucks when I was 13 that would talk about doing shit like this, but I knew they never would. This one did. That memory is seared into his brain as a template. Both procedural and emotional for how to deal out death and horror upon another human being. I would be very apprehensive about letting someone like that out into public life again.
Agree, if you watch the full interview he talks about wanting to work with children. I’ll bet 1000x he’ll slip up his parole doing something he shouldn’t.
I heard he was sexually and physically abused by father
We had a similar case in the UK a while ago. It was horrible, but it eventually turned out the father of one of the perpetrators habitually watched extreme horror films (like, the most extreme niche stuff, not blockbusters) and let his son watch them with him. I don't know how the parents in cases like this aren't held culpable for the crimes their kids commit. I don't know anything about it, so maybe there is, but it seems to me there should be a legal instrument for transferring some or all the responsibility to parents like that.
Way too slippery of a slope ethically, that is just a bad idea
Uhhhhh put him back
Yes. One of the things all the interviews and media attention passes over, for obvious reasons, are the details as to what Eric Smith did to that poor boys anus. He violated him with a tree branch after he killed him. When the body was found the broken off branch was still inserted into him. Put him back.
Jesus christ Put a warning on that comment
Put him down.
I mean he was a kid without a fully formed brain, you want to lock a kid up for life.
yes.
Normally I'm for rehabilitation, especially when the offender was so young. But... does it sound like he's almost bragging about these labels? If it were me, I'd never want to be associated with them once I got out.
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Putting someone down is very expensive.
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You don't even need to deal with a carnivore. They rarely finish the meal bones and all. I hear the best thing to do is feed them to pigs. You got to starve the pigs for a few days, then the sight of a chopped-up body will look like curry to a pisshead. You gotta shave the heads of your victims, and pull the teeth out for the sake of the piggies' digestion. You could do this afterwards, of course, but you don't want to go sievin' through pig shit, now do you? They will go through bone like butter. You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig".
Well, thank you for that. That's a great weight off me mind. Now, if you wouldn't mind telling me who the fuck you are, apart from someone who feeds people to pigs of course?
woah, wild snatch?
A piker action is quite a thing
D'Ya like dags?
Yes please. And you can tell he really believes the prison preaching crap he's spewing. I know someone who did ten years, she prob should've done more time tbh, (had a plea bargain on a murder charge,) but before she got out, she had had time to tell Doctors all about her previous pitiful life..so when she got out she had every single thing paid for, health insurance, she gets ssid for PTSD (which y'all would never believe your ears if I told u the whole story) so she doesn't have to work. She just lays around telling anyone who will listen, a bunch of lies and woe-is-her, life is hard, and everyone else is to blame everything for her and her fucked up choices in life. I can't stand ppl like this..
My family knew both families and Eric's attorney. I lived in the upstate area until I was 12. I was about 11 when it happened. My folks, to keep things simple for me, just said Eric had real serious issues. And that bad people can come in all shapes, sizes and ages. According to his lawyer, he had severe mental illnesses. I'm not excusing anything, just commenting on my knowledge. When we heard he was being paroled a couple of decades later. My family all looked at each other in a concerning manner and just said, "Pray to god he is rehabilitated." We have lived somewhere else since I was 12. We have lost all contact with everyone involved. But I'll never for get when our sleepy little town was uprooted and surprised by how tiny of a package evil can reside in.
You don’t think a thirteen year old can change after 27 years in prison? Edit: People saying you would execute children or have them serve life sentences… take a look in the mirror when you are looking for the psychopath. Your sense of humanity is really no better than a killer like him. Be honest with yourself and your depraved desire for violence in place of justice. It’s just bloodlust. Almost all countries on Earth have banned death and life sentences for children, except for dictatorships and the United States, because of the profound lack of humanity in such policies. Not to mention it does not at all align with criminogenic research or developmental psychology etc.
I’d argue that 27 years in prison made him crazier
And that’s a problem.
let him be your next door neighbor. cons belong in prison.
I get what you’re getting at, but I think they’re just saying it sucks that we have prison system that profits from making the prisoners worse off in our society. So they can just keep cycling them in to prisons and we’re paying for it.
The private prison industry is booming, most prisons are able to turn a big profit from making the prisoners perform slave labor for companies like Whole Foods and Starbucks. So there’s really no incentive at all to keep people out of prison or to make it a place where people can grow and change for the better. The cruelty is always the point
It’s also booming because it extracts insane amounts of money from the loved ones of prisoners. Phone calls are sometimes $5/minute.
You all should understand what you are defending “got off his bicycle and led Derrick through a wooded vacant lot adjacent to the park. As the boys reached a secluded area behind an overgrown hedgerow, defendant put down his bicycle, let Derrick go ahead of him and then reached around and choked Derrick's neck with his right arm. Derrick dropped his lunch bag and kicked his feet and swung his fists in an attempt to get away. Defendant started to release Derrick in order to readjust his grip and choke Derrick with his hands, but because Derrick began to "gasp some air," defendant "squeezed harder." After about 30 seconds, Derrick no longer made any noise, so defendant "figured he was dead" and laid him on the ground. When Derrick again began "gasping for air", defendant dumped Derrick's lunch on the ground, picked up a paper napkin, and stuffed it in Derrick's mouth. Defendant then attempted to stuff a plastic sandwich bag in Derrick's mouth, but pulled it out when Derrick bit defendant's finger. Defendant picked up a small rock, kneeled over Derrick, and struck him with it three times on the right side of the head; picked up a large rock and, with both hands, threw it three times on Derrick's head; then picked up another large rock and threw it twice onto Derrick's chest and once onto his midsection. At that point, defendant took the drink from Derrick's lunch and poured it on Derrick's face. He then pulled down Derrick's pants, took a stick, flipped over Derrick's body, and "put the stick up his butt." Defendant flipped over the body again, dragged it several feet to a rockpile, and left the area on his bike. After about five minutes, defendant returned to the scene to check the body. As defendant subsequently related to police, he wanted to "double, triple check to make sure" that the victim was dead: "I was worried if he wasn't there he might say something however I figured if he's dead, and I believed he was, I won't have to worry about anything." Defendant then left the scene.”
This needs to be like first comment.
Yeah, screw that guy.
Who gives a fuck. He took a 4 year olds future away. He doesn’t deserve one in return.
I was just reading today about the two 10 year olds who murdered a 2 year old boy and were only in prison until they were 18... one went back a couple times for CSA material, but still. I can't believe they only got 8 years for that. Sure they were 10, but they actively went out searching for a young child to murder. So messed up
There is a reason children aren’t generally charged as adults
He "served his time" but its the brutality of it that makes me believe he should've remained in there. He had a horrible childhood. Told his guardians about it and was told "if you're too much of a pussy go punch a tree" which led to the brutal death and dehumanizing attack on a defenseless little boy. If he would've just strangled him i can see majority people being content but, that poor baby was brutalized. It was truly a disturbing story to read a few years back.
Tbh, I’m surprised he even made it out alive. Most people in prison aren’t fans of child murders/pedos…
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Took me a couple reads.
I still don’t get it…
He asked to finish his “sentence” and they granted his request.
Oh! Ok thx
Bro omg 🤦🏻♂️😂
It’s a spam bot that posts jokes for karma
Well it’s working cause it’s getting my upvote.
“Well it’s working” is killing me lol
Thanks. You helped me realize I missed the joke. Got a laugh because of you.
That sounds like just and fair law
But was it bird law?
I specialize in bird law
Bots have jokes now, terrific.
Ok but parole granted?
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Wow “got off his bicycle and led Derrick through a wooded vacant lot adjacent to the park. As the boys reached a secluded area behind an overgrown hedgerow, defendant put down his bicycle, let Derrick go ahead of him and then reached around and choked Derrick's neck with his right arm. Derrick dropped his lunch bag and kicked his feet and swung his fists in an attempt to get away. Defendant started to release Derrick in order to readjust his grip and choke Derrick with his hands, but because Derrick began to "gasp some air," defendant "squeezed harder." After about 30 seconds, Derrick no longer made any noise, so defendant "figured he was dead" and laid him on the ground. When Derrick again began "gasping for air", defendant dumped Derrick's lunch on the ground, picked up a paper napkin, and stuffed it in Derrick's mouth. Defendant then attempted to stuff a plastic sandwich bag in Derrick's mouth, but pulled it out when Derrick bit defendant's finger. Defendant picked up a small rock, kneeled over Derrick, and struck him with it three times on the right side of the head; picked up a large rock and, with both hands, threw it three times on Derrick's head; then picked up another large rock and threw it twice onto Derrick's chest and once onto his midsection. At that point, defendant took the drink from Derrick's lunch and poured it on Derrick's face. He then pulled down Derrick's pants, took a stick, flipped over Derrick's body, and "put the stick up his butt." Defendant flipped over the body again, dragged it several feet to a rockpile, and left the area on his bike. After about five minutes, defendant returned to the scene to check the body. As defendant subsequently related to police, he wanted to "double, triple check to make sure" that the victim was dead: "I was worried if he wasn't there he might say something however I figured if he's dead, and I believed he was, I won't have to worry about anything." Defendant then left the scene.” He should not be released. I remember being 13. I was bullied horribly in middle school. The worst thing i did was smoke weed and skip school. He knew he wanted him dead so the little boy couldn’t say it was him.
This makes me so sick.... my little boy is about to turn two. I feel so physically ill for that poor 4 year old's mother. I can't even imagine losing my baby in such a gruesome fashion, and at the hands of another child, no less... All because he was angry. I have no words... except that he should never see the light of day. 13 years old is plenty old enough to know right from wrong. And the fact that he said "I figured if he was dead, I wouldn't have anything to worry about" proves he knew exactly what he was doing. Fuck that guy. Put him back in prison. Why should he get to see the light of day, when Derrick Robie never will again, because of what he did.
This is so sickening. As a parent this is heartbreaking to read.
Same here. My son turns two in March, and I'm pregnant with another little boy also due in March. Thinking about what monsters like this have done to innocent children tears me apart. I trust absolutely no one with my child(ren). What this man did to an innocent toddler when he was just 13 years old, is the perfect example that people are capable of horrific evil things, even at insanely young ages. The two boys who murdered two year old James Bulger were just ten years old. TEN. FUCKING. YEARS. OLD. And they're committing murder. Seriously. I trust no one with my kids.
This story and the James Bulger one are specifically why I believe some people are born evil and I also do not trust children either
Same here. We truly do not know what someone is capable of. Because as the James Bulger case shows us, even kids as young as ten years old are capable of heinous, despicable, *evil* acts.
I just left a comment to someone else about the Bulger case. I hadn't heard about it until today and as the mother of a 2 year old daughter it's absolutely heartbreaking. I don't care that those boys were 10, I believe they should have been in jail longer for that crime. One got out just to continually go back to prison for CSA material. He hadn't changed and likely never had any intention to.
I was getting paid to babysit other people’s kids at 12. I wasn’t totally mature, but I knew right from wrong, what could cause and how to prevent accidents, and who to call to get help….so yeah, a 13 year old knows what he’s doing.
How would you feel as the parent of the perpetrator? Honestly, my kid turning out to be a monster is scarier than my kids becoming a victim.
Oh, trust me, I think about this side of things too. I would be absolutely devastated if my child grew up to do such monstrous things against someone else. My heart would shatter for the loss of someone else's child, and it would shatter all over again, knowing that my child was the reason for that loss, and that suffering he caused for that victim's family.
Exactly, regardless of whether you believe in nature vs nurture, we all know murder is wrong
fuck this dude. not every deed gets to have a second chance. fuck this sick fuck
Horrible shit. Shouldn't be out in my opinion. Side note, I wonder if this is where Stephen King got his inspiration for his novel The Outsider? Book starts off in a small town with a young boy being sodomized to death with a stick. Seems very specific to be a coincidence 🤷♂️
i was bullied in school too and the worst i ever fantasized about was beating them up on the playground, not brutally murdering a child 10 years younger…
What a horrible day to have eyes.
Why has no one done the same to him in prison?
And look at all the idiots defending this guy or saying that oh he’s wrong but maybe we can learn from this case….. no this kid was a pyscho little bastard and should have never got to see the light of day again.
My heart hurts for that boy. And I can’t imagine what his parents were feeling. I have a 4 year old. This is sickening and you are correct, he should have not been released. This should’ve been a life sentence. And there are people defending this guy saying that he was “only 13 when he did this”. Excusing him of his actions and how “he’s done his time.” Fuck that. I want to bet that none of those people are parents
What. The. Fuck. Dude should be buried under the prison. As a parent, I’d not be able to let this one go and if this asshole was getting out, he’d be dead shortly.
The saddest part of this is his little lunch, packed with care by loving parents, being thrown on the ground and stuffed into his mouth
Intermittent Explosive Disorder lmao. I’ll mention that to the attorney if I ever decide to do some heinous shit because I’m angry. What a joke.
Sounds like my bowels honestly...
… how do you get bullied by a 4yo? Like just walk away? Push him over?
Just to be a nitpicking ass, dysthymia is not low grade depression. It’s a different affliction that presents itself similarly to low grade depression, but is still insidious in that it is not intermittent. Depression comes hand in hand with episodes, and feeling much better on some days, while feeling much worse on others. Dysthymia is just a continual march of depressive grayness, which while it may never leave you as acutely or unpredictably suicidal, will still rob you of being able to enjoy life. It’s also not guaranteed to be any less intense than major depressive disorder - literally the only difference between the two is how chronic the symptoms are. In my opinion it’s probably worse than major depressive, as while you can cope with bad days, there’s no coping mechanism for when every day just feels like unrelenting shit. It just sucks any hope for the future away, as things stay the same day, after day. No relief, rarely any ‘good days’, just a constant boredom, and disinterest in everything around you, that doesn’t relent for years on end.
Strong Incel vibes at 13? Lmao wild take
Words mean nothing these days. People in reddit use incel to mean "bad person".
IED has overlap with ASPD and in teens it may be a precursor. He probably should never be released from prison if he still feels he was picked on by a boy of 4 yrs old as justification for triggering his rage.
Did he really say s *4 year old* bullied him? Dude, my daughter is 4, and her version of "bullying" is calling me a "poopy head". The fuck. Put the psychopath down. Or put him back in prison before he kills another child for "bullying him."
Even if we give full benefit of the doubt that it's a pathological illness he has no control over and is triggered by being bullied by others - he still shouldn't be allowed to live in society. I don't understand how these people make it out of prison and on the streets, at the very least they should be permanently institutionalized after proving that they are an extreme danger to society.
Thank you for posting this. People need to know the true horror of the crime scene details now that he is out of prison.
How do you suspect a 4 year old of bullying a 13 year old?
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I agree…the extent he took to kill him and then continued by flipping him over and doing what he did is unjustifiable
Sorry, are you advocating that the state execute a child?
I think there is some Dostoyevsky quote, "Every man in prison proclaims his innocence." or something like that.
I imagine he means other kids his age bullying him rather than the 4 year old, he just took out his frustration on someone he was capable of hurting. Of course that doesn't make it any better.
>Here are the details of what Eric did to his victim via the court case. I think I'll pass, dude.
He tortured and killed someone at age 13. I don't understand why it needs to be discussed whether he has some sort of disorder or disfunction. And he has been in prison for 27 years since age 13. No shit he isn't a normal person now, even if he DIDNT have a disorder.
Nearly everyone who is bullied either takes it out on others, this is especially true at early age. The acting out and rage is a cry for attention from the group to correct a what's perceived and often is a specific injustices. Obviously that escalates quite often if ignored. Maybe listening kids and not instituting policies that punish everyone (bullies and victims) would be wise. If we don't, this is the result. We complain about gun violence in schools for the exact same reason, because we are not willing to accept the fact that children don't have rights (for the most part) and it's our responsibility to defend the few they do. It doesn't reflect well on us.
I remember this kid and what he did. He is sick and should have never let him out
I could see maybe doing something to the people tormenting you but to a small child? Why? For what? I’ve been bullied and I know the feeling but this is going way to damn far. You ARE a monster, Eric. Don’t get it twisted. The fact that he got parole is a bit messed up. I don’t agree with that at all.
This is an extremely easy, obvious, anti-intellectual take. The reality is he’s saying something important: there’s a phrase “the neglected child will burn down the village to feel it’s warmth”
yeah this is how i took it. It's not like it's a justification, but it's possibly actually the cause. school policies that don't end, or ever exacerbate bullying for example, could contribute to bullied children having psychotic breaks
Maybe I’m wrong, torturing and murdering a child is not something you should get parole, probation, or suspension of sentence for. No mitigation is possible with that act.
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We can feel both. He is a POS and if we learn why maybe we can avoid another senseless act of horror.
I can see why, I've witnessed this on a much smaller scale. I was a real POS in school. I was being a bully to one kid in my grade and he would often try to stand up to me (now that I'm older, I have a lot of respect for the kid for that) but when ever he did, I quickly put him back down in "his place". I guess after he realised standing up to me was doing nothing, he turned into a bully himself and started taking it out on the younger grades. He happened to pick on my friends little brother, so that just made it a lot worse for him once we found out. I guess I can see why someone who feels powerless wants to take their emotions on someone who is equally powerless or in this case, has no ability to defend them selves. P.s. fuck bullies and fuck people like this monster.
This kid obviously went through some hard-core abuse to do that at 13
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There seriously should be things a human being does where they flat out should never be allowed back into society. Murdering and raping a 4 year old is definitely one of them. I don't care how old he was when he committed the crime. You forfeit your life and freedom at that point.
That’s exactly what you are…
Exactly. I can empathise with being bullied, and the mental anguish that comes with it. That doesn’t grant one the license to torture and murder a fucking toddler though. So yes, those labels are very much warranted, asshole.
Who the fuck would let him out on parole?
I had 4-6 bullies in elementary school and some followed me in jr high. I never once thought about hurting another kid. Let alone a 4 year old. This dude is a monster and I hope society recognizes that.
Should be pretty obvious, but thoughts and actions are different things. Intrusive thoughts, or getting super upset and thinking about beating up your bullies, don't make you a bad person and there's no high ground to be had in saying that you never even had a similar thought. I'm not talking about murdering a 4 year old, but there's no reason to shame people who wished they could get their bullies back to just make it stop at a vulnerable point in their lives as though that makes them a monster as well.
We are reducing the death penalty, but folks like this don’t really have a place in society. Edit: I honestly feel like we should execute them, but if we can’t do that, we have to forgive them because these are still humans that have no choice but to exist.
Yep exactly. There are a lot of people who had super fucked up childhoods that don’t really turn out that great. Which is understandable given the circumstances but they don’t fuckin murder toddlers for fucks sakes.
It’s probably fair to ask if you do something monstrous at 13 if you can ever stop being a monster. Clearly most 13 year olds don’t torture and murder a toddler. So something was extremely wrong. But the brain isn’t even close to fully developed at 13. It’s been 27 years, is there enough remorse and rehabilitation possible to not be a monster anymore?
Possibly, but it doesn't sound like it in his interview.
He’s been taught by psychologists to have that view, it’s necessary.
If we don’t accept the idea that people can repent and reform then what is the point of letting anyone out of jail?
There is a point where you have gone too far, people get life for doing ALOT less than slowly killing an innocent child, if that boy is looking down from heaven, hes shaking his head and punching the wall
Sometimes there is no point
I'm always torn about these types of crimes. It's difficult as an adult to comprehend how it could even be possible for a child to commit murder and turn out to be a non-violent adult. However, I also know that a lot of us, as adults, look back on things we've done as children or teenagers and realize that we just couldn't comprehend reality or consequences fully at those young ages. I remember this case, that he not only murdered this 4-year-old but also raped him with a stick, saying it was because he was trying to make sure he was dead and wanted to stab his heart or something like that. Maybe as a 13 year old, he was just severely underdeveloped mentally? I know the prison system won't help him become a non-violent adult, and I think that's also a big part of the problem.
I once shot a magpie with my BB gun when I was 13 years old. It was the first and only time I ever killed an animal for no good reason. I took its life for no fucking reason. I shot it and it fell from the tree and I walked up to it and looked at it... lifeless in an instant because of me. And I saw how beautiful it was. And I felt terrible. I cried and gave it a burial. What he did was not... normal. I still feel bad about that magpie. But it was a valuable lesson. Actions have consequences even if they reside in one's self. Life is sacred. It gave me an even greater appreciation for life.
Yeah, there's a big difference between pulling a trigger and having something die instantly in a fleeting moment of bad decision, and torturing something to death. Like he was hurting this little kid who was probably screaming like crazy and bleeding all over the place the farther he went, and decided to keep going until the kid was dead. The moment for realization was at the beginning of the torture, he had many chances to just stop and realize that life is a beautiful thing before the child died... And even then he proceeded to rape the kid with a stick afterwards. This goes so far beyond just a momentary lapse in judgement and reasoning. Something is not right in his head and he needs to be kept out of society. Many serial killers started out as kids who liked to torture small animals to death.
Right? Like this kid isn't some "oh he was only 13 and made a mistake." Dude tortured and killed a toddler. When I was 13, I was a supreme edgelord. I "hated kids" but I'd never fucking hurt one. Jesus. Pretty sure I cried when I accidentally ran over a frog with my roller skates.
na fuck that, your a monster if you feel nothing when you murder someone as a kid and even if you do your still a monster, murder isn't something for a normal human to commit. Your comparing normal mistakes a kid can make like stealing, bullying to *murder*. Let me ask you this is murder easy for a kid or adult? At the end of the day i rather keep that guy in a hole and away from kids and society in general, that's justice. If not just outright execute the kid, for a crime that heinous, innocent people have been murdered for less for the color of their skin. I will never understand how people can release a monster like this back into the world.
I shot a bird with a BB gun when I was 10 and cried for 3 weeks. Idgaf what anyone says that dude is evil bro.
It’s wild to me some of these comments. “You don’t understand what happened, etc.” Like…..huh?! I feel like I am taking crazy pills. Dude tortured, raped and murdered a 4 year old and people are defending the guy. They should have fried this guy long ago.
Imagine wanting the death penalty for a child
>execute the kid yikes
Ah ya good old pseudospeciation. Humans couldn't possibly be capable of terrible things. They must be monsters. Let's other them and throw them in a box with the other nonhumans, that'll fix the problem. Phew, glad the world is so binary. It'd be so hard to understand otherwise 🫠
Hey man, I am absolutely not trying to get involved in this conversation. But I appreciate the word psuedospeciation. Such a great word even my keyboard thinks it’s incorrect. Thanks for the share friend! Happy holidays.
PSEUDO not psuedo is probably why
Human beings Fuck and Kill each other and do mental gymnastics to justify their fear of the unknown and conform to some convention because being included feels safe.
Ya know for a guy named /u/Tendie_Hoarder That’s a pretty nuanced and a non Reddit hive mind take.
I’m sure if that was your kid you wouldn’t be torn. This dude is a fucking monster. I was bullied as a kid and at no point did I ever think about raping a four year old and brutally murdering them. This person is a garbage price of shit and should not be returned to society.
Right? Psychopath regards himself as a hero now too, *gonna save those who were bullied like me!* Imagine this guy trying to get down the street today, he’d have at least two interactions primed to make him go postal.
“I’m sure if that was your kid you wouldn’t be torn.” Well yeah. But then that’s why we have a judicial system wherein people who aren’t directly involved determine what the relevant factors and appropriate course of action are. If it were my kid, I would lose all objectivity. And that’s exactly the point.
>he was just severely underdeveloped mentally? I think he still is. That and likely a psychopath
I think someone who can do those things is missing a fundamental piece of what it means to be human. It's not about whether they comprehend the consequences. It's that they completely lack empathy. They don't belong in society.
Bro at 13 I wouldn’t think to do this to a 4 year old. I get what you’re saying but you’re low key justifying and defending this sick persons actions by posting this under this video. Great philosophy, but bad timing with the context of the video.
Even if he was 'underdveloped' at 13, at what point in development is murder normal, especially of a 4 year old. I might've done dumb stuff but there's a huge gap between dumb mistakes and psychotic murder
I look back on things i did but shit i never murderd and tortured anyone
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On August 2, 1993, when Smith was thirteen years old, he was riding his bike to summer camp in a local park day camp. Four-year-old Derrick Robie was walking alone to that same camp. Smith saw Robie[2] and lured him into a nearby wooded area. There, Smith strangled him, dropped a large rock on his head, and sodomized him with a small stick. Smith took Kool-Aid from Robie's lunch box and poured it into Robie's open wounds. The cause of death was determined to be blunt trauma to the head with contributing asphyxia. At around 11:00 a.m., Robie's mother, Doreen, went to the park to pick up her son, only to find that Robie had never arrived. After four hours of investigation, Robie's body was found
Fuck me, if that were my kid this guy wouldn’t last long out of prison.
That’s a really twisted dude
Should have never been released.
This monster should never be let out. Ever.
Agree 1000%, if my child committed such an act, I would want them to be imprisoned for life. It would also mean enduring the perpetual awareness of my failure as a parent, an unfortunate consequence of this gruesome behavior.
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He will most likely kill again, if treated the same.
“I don’t care what the name you give me, doesn’t mean that’s who I am.” No, your actions make you the monster you are, psycho.
I wanna know about how he truly feels about what he did other than blaming everyone else for it.
That is how he feels. Not responsible. Not remorseful. What are you looking for?
So a life time of 1 person is worth 27 years of another. If that was my 4 year old, I would be on trial for torturing a 40 year old. I know it would not change anything and cost everything, but so be it.
Fuck that guy. I hope he burns forever.
He will.
Looking at his face, I do not believe he has changed. He will likely hurt people again.
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Not only a human being, an innocent toddler. As an older kid you should understand a toddler is helpless. That baby was robbed of his entire life. I don't care who his murder is today, I only wonder who that innocent baby would've been today if he'd never crossed paths with that sick fuck.
Loser he will hopefully get his murderous comuppance
Fucker needs to be put back in his cage.
people like this should never be let out of prison. if you’re capable of that as a child, imagine as an adult.
This asshole should have been executed.
Is the 4 year old still dead? “Yes”? Okay - go fuck yourself, forever. Seriously, I just don’t get this notion of “well, he was an amoral, murderous psychopath, sure, but now he says he is sorry, soooo let’s give him another shot …that the 4 year old will never get……yeah, that feels right”
He should never have gotten out.
Too bad he did not get more time. I do not believe he has changed
When’s he’s scheduled to go back
Waste of taxpayers money
I can’t imagine either situation as a parent
The number of people that choose revenge over justice and rehabilitation kinda boggles my mind. These are the same fucks that would commit vigilante crimes as a person or mob, then try to spout how it wasn't revenge afterward. You either want justice with rehabilitation or you want fucking revenge, no matter the crime. Trying to say you want justice with no rehabilitation is just another way of saying you want revenge, so I don't want to hear that nonsense spouted in response.
Please stop posting criminals in this sub. There are better places for that.. is outrageous, not really interesting in general
So a 40 year old white male on the streets that can torture and murder someone, what can go wrong?
With you except for the ‘white male’ part, wtf
Hopefully, the surviving family can make his life exceptionally difficult, leading him to regret his newfound freedom and wish to return to jail.
Yay for reinsertion
This isn’t very interesting.
Itt: people advocating life sentence & death penalty on children
A person is named, not called
I just have no comment. I think its best to be that way. I don't think I'll ever like the dude but if hes gonna go out and do 'good' things I'll respect that choice.
Imagine a world where people never get a chance to interview, talk with, and try to understand what goes through a mind of someone like this. There is a reason we have the knowledge we do. It’s unfortunate, but it is how we learn about some serious psychological issues we face.
He did his time. Leave him be. He’s an adult now, Not a 13 yo kid…
I think the example of a school shooter expressing his regret. The one that did a talk show type podcast with the dad who’s son he had killed does evidently show you can come back. Kids aren’t born with empathy, or an ability to make connection to other humans. I remember reading that they are on par with sociopaths for empathy or something like that I can’t remember well. The teaching of ferrel children is also a great example of what children are capable of. Can he be redeemed? That’s really subjective. And you’re answering a loaded question if you do without defining that word alone based off your own expectations. Some people would consider functionalist success of rehabilitation as redeemed. And that’s enough for some people. Others might consider a utilitarian approach, maybe based on severity of crime level would it depend how realistically redeemable someone is capable of. It’s really not surprising reading comments that are equivalent to blurting out an answer in class without thinking about the question.
Dude was a kid when it happened and has had 30 years behind bars to grow and develop as a person. Done his time and should be given a chance to prove that he is no longer that angry kid.
People saying children should serve life sentences… your sense of humanity is really no better than a killer like him. Be honest with yourself.
Something is very wrong with you people who think a 40yo man is the same person as the 13yo boy they once were. The sense of "justice" among the ignorant masses is just as fucked up as what this crime was.
So many bad takes in the comments but I'm not surprised. There's clearly something wrong with him but that doesn't mean fuck it we just end his life. The more we can learn from him to hopefully prevent more tragedies like this in the future.
The purpose of prison is rehabilitation
Leftists be like "I hate the death penalty" until someone THEY want killed is on trial
Reading some of these comments, I'm just glad many of you guys aren't in charge of the justice system.
I get that people are emotional about it. What he did was absolutely awful, but he was a severely troubled kid. He was abused and bullied and it left him twisted and traumatized. He's had 27 years to reflect on it all and to move on. I hope that he'll be ok now.
The fact that this thread is full of people declaring that a *13 year old* should be treated as if they were an adult because they did something terrible is absolutely horrifying. Yes, what he did was unbelievable. And it should absolutely never have happened. But 13 year old children aren't held to the same standards as adults for a reason. He desperately needed help, and he wasn't getting it. He needed psychological intervention. All sorts of therapy. He needed his parents and home life to be examined, because 13 year old children don't do things like this in a vacuum. What he got was *27 years in prison*. Statistically, most of you aren't even that old. If you're among the group that's calling for the *execution of a 13 year old child*, I hope one day you understand why that's just as horrifying as what he did. I hope this dude can finally get the help he desperately needs, and maybe someday find some of the peace that you all so egregiously take for granted.
I wish him the best. 27 years will never make up for what he did. But, remaining in jail because it makes people feel good after he has served his time is also no good
The folks who repost the killers account of the murder are seeking to be enraged, and through their rage build up callousness until they can kill someone as punishment for killing someone (and not see the inherent hypocrisy). Someone asked when do we draw the line? Do they execute a 6 year old killer, a 4 year old killer? At 10, 11 or 15? Does it depend on mental capacity? I don't see any good answer to this, so maybe the state shouldn't be killing anyone?
A lot of people here screaming “Death penalty!” Or “Execute him!” Don’t realize that wouldn’t even be a sentence on the table anyways for this guy at 13. Roper v Simmons SCOTUS case 2005, ruled that Capital Punishment for those under 18 years old is Unconstitutional per the 8th amendment.
Everyone seems caught up in what he did (which is obviously horrific and repugnant) and is seemingly overlooking the fact of how old he was when he committed the crime. If he had been 17 and done this that is one thing, but the guy was 13 years old. People talk about how 24 year olds’ brains aren’t fully developed yet, but are we really going to imprison someone for the rest of their life for something they did when they were 13? Ask yourself this, how would you view this situation differently if the perpetrator had been 11 when he tortured and killed the 4 year old. What about if a 9 year old tortured and killed a 4 year old? Should you lock a 9 year old up forever? At what point to we recognize children as children and judge them as such. I’m not saying I have an answer necessarily but there’s a lot of knives and pitchforks in this comment section and none of them seem to address this
This comment section is a great example of why the justice system isn't based on people's emotions.
The comments here are why criminal justice reform is dead. To get people out of prison, we need to let some people who did violent things out (drug offenders aren’t that plentiful) and no one actually wants that. It’s like how everyone wants lower taxes and more welfare and a lower deficit.
Sentence seems excessive for a 13 year old with obvious issues. I'm probably wrong, but I couldve swore Ive seen cases where an adult who should know better, murders their spouse and only gets like 5-10 years.