Teen found guilty of first-degree murder

Just 19 days after he turned 18, Eric Smith learned yesterday he would spend the rest of his adulthood behind bars for last summer's ambush-shooting of Luis Navarro Jr. and the theft of the victim's new dirt bike.

The 12-member Common Pleas Court jury deliberated just over an hour before finding Smith guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, having an unlicensed gun, and possessing an instrument of crime in the July 28, 2007, incident in which Navarro, 16, was shot three times in the back as he cruised along a wooded path in part of Tacony Creek Park in the Juniata Park section.

Smith, of Summerdale, did not testify during the three-day trial and did not appear to show emotion as the verdict was announced.

Afterward, he strode under escort through the courtroom door into the prisoner holding area without looking back.

Navarro's mother, Caroline Lopez, let out a loud, sobbing moan at the first "guilty" pronouncement and was embraced tightly by husband, Luis Navarro Sr.

"He was lucky he didn't get more than that," said Navarro, referring to the life term.

"I will never see my son again. At least his family can still visit him," Navarro said, adding that he believed Smith would be fine "once he gets used to prison."

The Navarros gave their son the new $3,000 green and white Kawasaki FX85 dirt bike just four days before he was killed. It was the "specific bike" he had long wanted, the father testified, and a surprise for staying out of trouble and getting good grades at Mastbaum Area Vocational Technical School, where he was studying to be a mechanic.

In Pennsylvania, first-degree murder carries a mandatory life prison sentence without parole. The District Attorney's Office did not seek the death penalty because Smith was 16 when charged.

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

Through the trial, 20 to 30 of Navarro's family and friends were in court. Smith's parents never attended.

Rendine declined to comment after the trial.

Navarro's murder was one of 392 homicides last year, part of a wave of violence that was compounded by a "no-snitching" street creed.

Although Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Selber said the investigation was "going nowhere" the day after Navarro's body was discovered, the case turned out to be a welcome break in that trend.

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

Colon, who recognized the bike from news stories, called a police officer he knew, and within minutes, Smith and friends were in custody being questioned.

The Kawasaki - its front shield and fender with bullet holes - was found in Smith's friend's garage with the .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol used to kill Navarro.

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

Selber described Smith in her closing argument as a cold-blooded killer who - despite being just 16 - ambushed Navarro, shot him three times in the back, and later boasted to friends about "catching a body" and watching Navarro's death throes.

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 - to pressure them into giving statements.

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 and that their testimony was corroborated by each other and other witnesses.