Parole denied for convicted rapist

By Michael Glover

Herald-Tribune

Fort Scott, Kan. -- Heather Steiger is relieved for the moment, but in two years her fears will resurface.

The Kansas Parole Board allowed Steiger to breathe a little easier when it denied parole of Steven G. Smith last month.

Smith is serving a life sentence for the brutal beating and rape of Steiger in 1993. The three-member board in October denied parole of Steven G. Smith based on the seriousness and circumstances surrounding the violent nature of the crime. Also, objections from officials and victims played a role in the decision.

"If you knew that you and your family would die if a person came out of jail, how could you put that into words?" Steiger asked. "I am incredibly relieved."

Smith, 47, is a danger to Steiger, her family and her community, she said. Her sister would be in direct danger because Smith, if released, was planning on moving to the same neighborhood where her sister lives, she said. She asked the name of the city not be used for her sister's protection, an example of how profoundly Smith's actions have influenced her family's life.

Smith would have been released Oct. 9, and Steiger told the board at public comment session that "they would be reading my obituary on Oct. 10, because I just know he would come right after me." Steiger said that after his sentencing in 1993, Smith yelled, "I will get out and I will kill you," out of the window of the jail as she walked out of the courtroom.

In June 1993, Smith kidnapped then 17-year-old Steiger after she accepted a ride with him, then strangled her for what the doctors estimated to be two or more hours and raped her twice. The injuries she suffered have produced long-term effects that cause her pain and other problems to this day. She experiences daily headaches and memory problems because of the prolonged strangulation. Smith was convicted by a Bourbon County District Court jury on Nov. 4, 1993, with one count each of rape and aggravated battery. He is currently incarcerated at the El Dorado correctional facility.

The board set October 2008 as the next shot Smith has for freedom.

Every two years, Steiger experiences a wave of emotions ranging from high levels of fear followed by anger at the system for allowing a life sentence to be subject to by possible freedom every couple of years.

"Everyone tells me, 'he's not going to get out, don't worry,'" Steiger said. "Then I keep thinking 'what if, what if he gets out.' I am worried about 2008, but I feel that God is protecting us."

The thought of "what if" intensifies when stories like the release of Danny R. Rouse surface. Rouse was paroled to Indiana from Kansas on March 21, when the board granted his parole, where he served 26 years for the 1979 murder of a 5-year-old boy, according to the Associated Press. Rouse struck again when he confessed to strangling and stabbing 16-year-old Stephanie Wagner on Nov. 1. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius called for a review of the parole board's process, according to the AP.

Steiger thanks her family, friends and officials for contacting the board in support of denying Smith's parole. Steiger thinks those e-mails, letters and oral comments had an impact in its decision.

"I believe that the parole board understood that this issue raises a lot of old feelings and terrors for me and my family," Steiger said. "I believe that every person who spoke to keep him in prison had an effect."