Dirt bike murder trial verdict: Guilty

A Philadelphia jury today convicted Eric Smith of first degree murder in last summer's ambush-shooting of Luis Navarro Jr., a 16-year-old dirt biker riding the wooded trails of Tacony Creek Park, and the theft of the victim's new green and white Kawasaki.

The 12-member Common Pleas Court jury deliberated just over one hour before returning the guilty verdict against Smith, 18, of the city's Summerdale section.

The verdict carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. The District Attorney's office did not seek the death penalty because of Smith's age at the time of the July 28, 2007 killing.

Smith, who did not testify during the three-day trial that began last Wednesday, appeared to show no emotion after the verdict and walked quickly into the courtroom holding area afterward without looking back.

Navarro's mother, Caroline Lopez, let out a loud, sobbing moan as she was hugged by her husband, Luis Navarro Sr.

The jury also convicted Smith of robbery, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of an instrument of crime.

Although Smith could have been sentenced today, Judge Shelley Robins New set sentencing for Oct. 24 at the request of defense attorney Daniel A. Rendine, who said Smith's parents might wish to attend.

Prosecution and defense attorneys presented different portraits of Smith. To Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Selber, Smith was an 18-year-old cold-blooded killer who ambushed Navarro, shot him three times in the back, and later boasted to friends about watching Navarro's death throes and how he "caught a body."

Rendine argued that the jury could not know if Smith was guilty because he was incriminated by three friends who were lied to by police homicide detectives – each was told Smith and the others already blamed him as the shooter – and pressured into giving statements.

Navarro got the new $3,000 Kawasaki dirt bike just four days before he was killed. It was a gift from his parents for staying out of trouble and for getting good grades at Mastbaum Area Vocational Technical School, where Navarro was studying to be a mechanic.

Selber told the jury in her closing argument that Smith's three friends were misled by detectives in a legally sanctioned tactic to get them to break their silence.

Selber said their testimony was corroborated by each other and by other witnesses.

Smith and two friends were arrested July 30, 2007 after a construction worker saw them pushing the tarp-covered dirt bike into the garage of one of Smith's friends in the 800 block of Marcella Street.

The construction worker called police and within minutes Smith and friends were in custody and being questioned separately at police headquarters.

Smith did not give a statement but, according to trial testimony, his friends told detectives Smith boasted of shooting and killing Navarro.