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Thread: Ronald Allen Smith - Montana Death Row

  1. #21
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    One final safety net will remain if clemency application for Ronald Smith fails

    A legal challenge of Montana's death penalty policy will remain in effect even as lawyers for Canadian Ron Smith seek clemency from Gov. Brian Schweitzer later this year.

    Smith, who is facing execution for killing two young Montana men in 1982, will likely have a clemency hearing as early as this spring.

    The American Civil Liberties Union launched a civil lawsuit on Smith's behalf in 2008 arguing that Montana's execution process amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

    Lawyer Ron Waterman said the next hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled for September, which should be after the clemency process for Smith has occurred.

    He said it will remain as a safety net for the former Alberta resident if the appeal for clemency is unsuccessful.

    Smith, who is now 54, has exhausted all other legal appeals.

    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/can...136825368.html

  2. #22
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Application for clemency says death row Canadian Ronald Smith a 'changed man'

    Lawyers for the only Canadian on death row in the United States are officially asking the state of Montana for clemency.

    Ronald Smith, who is 54, has been on death row for nearly three decades for killing two men in 1982.

    A former resident of Red Deer, Alta., he has exhausted all other appeals.

    He is asking the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole to recommend that his sentence be commuted from death to life in prison.

    The application says Smith is as a changed man, who made a terrible mistake when he was 24 years old and was high on a combination of drugs and alcohol.

    It says Smith originally requested the death penalty because of his remorse and because he was alone, without consular assistance, in a foreign country.

    The application includes a letter from the Canadian government supporting the plea.

    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/can...137569568.html

  3. #23
    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Heidi View Post
    Application for clemency says death row Canadian Ronald Smith a 'changed man'
    The application says Smith is as a changed man, who made a terrible mistake when he was 24 years old and was high on a combination of drugs and alcohol.

    It says Smith originally requested the death penalty because of his remorse and because he was alone, without consular assistance, in a foreign country.
    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/can...137569568.html
    Part one - standard, nothing new. Taking 2 lives is not a terrible mistake and 24 year old is not a juvenile. As far as I know it was his decision to take the drugs. If someone forced him to take the drugs I would think about my opinion, but not in this case.

    Part two - I knew that the cultural gap between Canada and the US is huge. Especially for a man who has been in the US and with english as a native language.

    I´m so tired of these cheap excuses. He should be happy that he could spend so much time on DR. He should have been executed long ago.

  4. #24
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Baird rebuked for 'cynical' clemency letter for death-row inmate

    Opposition critics and one of Canada's leading opponents of the death penalty are denouncing Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird for sending a brief letter to the Montana parole board in which he appears to only half-heartedly request clemency for convicted killer Ronald Smith, the only Canadian on death row in the U.S.

    Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International-Canada, described the letter as ``deeply disappointing.''

    The federal NDP's justice critic, Jack Harris, called it a ``deplorable'' indication of the Conservative government's ambiguous stance on capital punishment, and Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc said the ``weak'' and ``cynical'' letter could effectively ``sink'' Smith's bid to avoid death by lethal injection.

    In the letter, Baird prefaces his request by noting that the government was ordered to lend its support to Smith by the Federal Court of Canada. He then states that the government ``does not sympathize with violent crime'' and that Canada's formal request for clemency ``should not be construed as reflecting a judgment on Smith's conduct.''

    The letter from Baird was included this week in Smith's formal application to have his death sentence for killing two Montana men in 1982 commuted to life imprisonment.

    The request is expected to prompt an investigation by parole board officials, a formal hearing within the next four months and eventually a non-binding recommendation from the board to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on whether Smith deserves to avoid execution.

    The 19-page application for clemency - accompanied by two other lengthy and impassioned letters of support for the 54-year-old Smith from a Catholic priest and prison educator - detailed Smith's record as a model inmate at the Montana State Prison, the failure of his first lawyer to accept a 1983 plea bargain that would have spared Smith's life, the abusive childhood Smith suffered growing up Alberta and his ``heartfelt remorse'' over the crimes he committed nearly 30 years ago.

    ``Clearly, a more robust letter conveying detailed and forceful support would be constructive, including laying out the reasons why (in addition to a court order) the government believes Mr. Smith deserves clemency,'' Neve told Postmedia News. ``There are many such reasons.''

    Neve acknowledged that having Canada officially ``on the record'' as backing the clemency bid is ``obviously welcome'' - even if the Conservative government's support is, at best, lukewarm.

    ``It's very, very cynical to begin a letter to the Montana parole board by saying `Look, I don't really want to do this, but I've been forced to,' '' said LeBlanc.

    ``If we think it's wrong to impose the death penalty on Canadians in Canada, we should have a consistent application of that principle when foreign jurisdictions are subjecting Canadians to that potential sentence.''

    Harris noted that a 2009 Federal Court ruling indicated that the ``good faith assistance of Canada would be influential in the exercise of discretion of Montana's governor to grant clemency. This failure to provide any real support for clemency may actually thwart Mr. Smith's petition.''

    Obtaining Canada's endorsement for the clemency initiative was a significant achievement for Smith's legal team in the wake of the Conservative government's sudden decision in 2007 to halt diplomatic efforts to prevent Smith's execution.

    At the time, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his government's decision to abandon Smith was driven by concerns that lobbying for the killer's life would ``send the wrong signal'' to Canadians about violent crime.

    ``We have no desire to open the debate on capital punishment here in Canada - and likewise, we have no desire to participate in the debate on capital punishment in the United States,'' Harper insisted at the time. ``The reality of this particular case is that were we to intervene, it would very quickly become a question of whether we are prepared to repatriate a double-murderer to Canada. In light of this government's strong initiatives on tackling violent crime, I think that would sent the wrong signal to the Canadian population.''

    But the Federal Court ruling in 2009 that said the government's withdrawal of support for Smith was ``unlawful'' eventually forced Canadian officials to restart clemency talks with Montana officials - the fact Baird pointedly notes in his Dec. 5 letter to the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole.

    It is, said Neve, ``deeply disappointing that the letter to the board leaves the impression that the government is only doing so because of a court order.''

    Neve, who filed an affidavit on Smith's behalf in the Federal Court case, has argued that - apart from conforming to Canada's own abolition of capital punishment in 1976 - seeking clemency for any Canadian on death row anywhere in the world is crucial to maintaining a consistent national policy that protects Canadians in countries where executions are routine and the rule of law is non-existent.

    This week, Amnesty International and other human rights advocates have been raising alarms about the case of Saeed Malekpour, a Canadian resident since 2004 who faces the death penalty in Iran over allegations that he created a pornographic website in the fundamentalist Islamic state.

    Neve said the Canadian government should step up its efforts to win clemency for Smith and said Amnesty International is hoping ``that will come in follow-up communication'' with the Montana parole board and Schweitzer.

    In the letter of support from former Montana State Prison educator John Salmonson, who worked with Smith from 1987 to 2004, he said the Canadian prisoner advanced so quickly in his education that he ``led the way'' for other inmates to pursue a new college-level study program initiated by the prison because of Smith's rapid progress.

    ``In my experience, Ron Smith demonstrated positive abilities, values, and behavior, and made a sincere effort to live a life with some point and purpose carried out in the shadow of the horrific acts for which he is condemned,'' Salmonson wrote. ``I am supporting this request for clemency first and foremost because of Ron Smith's efforts and example in prison.''

    http://www.canada.com/Baird+rebuked+...844/story.html

  5. #25
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Ronald Smith's family say death-row inmate is a changed man

    The daughter and sister of Alberta-born killer Ronald Smith, the only Canadian on death row in the United States, have spoken for the first time publicly to insist the 54-year-old convict is "a different person" from the young man who committed a horrific double-murder nearly 30 years ago in Montana, and to appeal to Canadians to support Smith's newly filed bid for clemency from execution.

    The two women, both of whom live in Alberta and asked not to have their names published, also expressed dismay at comments this week from Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu — for which he later apologized — that some jailed killers should be offered a rope to allow them to commit suicide in their cells.

    "I think that's very sad," Smith's 36-year-old daughter told Postmedia News. "I know everybody's entitled to their own opinion. But it's hard to believe somebody from Parliament would say that."

    Smith's sister, 48, said her brother remains the "pillar" of her family — "he was always very kind and compassionate and caring" — even though he's been incarcerated at Montana State Prison, near the state capital of Helena, for more than a quarter of a century.

    Both women say they visit Smith once a year or more and maintain regular contact by phone, seeking his advice about family matters and his comfort in difficult times, such as the recent death of Smith's mother.

    The killer's closest female relatives acknowledged they were encouraged by Smith and his lawyers to publicly convey their support for the clemency request, expected to be reviewed by the state's parole board in the coming weeks and ultimately decided upon by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

    Smith's sister, who plans to address the parole board personally, said she talked to him years ago about speaking to the news media "to show the changes that he's made over the last number of years, to humanize him."

    She added: "A few weeks ago, he said: 'Maybe the time is now.' "

    Smith's daughter — the mother of his two teenage grandchildren — said, "being at school has been hard on them. My dad does come up in current events. It's a struggle."

    But she said she and the children talk frequently by phone with Smith.

    "My dad is my sounding board," she said. "We talk about everything. He helps me a lot."

    Her children "love their granddad," she said, adding that her son often "talks about when granddad's going to be home one day."

    Smith has confessed to the August 1982 shooting deaths of Thomas Running Rabbit and Harvey Mad Man, two young cousins from Montana's Blackfoot Indian nation.

    At the time of the murders, Smith acknowledged that he killed the two men — who had offered a ride to Smith and two hitchhiking friends from Canada — simply to steal their car. Smith initially requested the death penalty for the crime and a judge promptly granted that wish, but the Canadian later launched a series of appeals that has delayed his execution for almost three decades.

    With his appeal options now exhausted, Smith recently filed an official request for clemency with the Montana parole board, essentially placing his fate in Schweitzer's hands.

    Canada's Conservative government — after attempting in 2007 to halt all lobbying on Smith's behalf by Canadian diplomats — was ordered by the Federal Court in 2009 to back the clemency bid. In December, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird sent a letter to Montana's parole board confirming that Canada wants Smith's death sentence commuted, but pointed out that the government "does not sympathize with violent crime," and that the country's formal request for clemency "should not be construed as reflecting a judgment on Smith's conduct."

    Both Smith's sister and daughter expressed hope that the Canadian government's support — court-ordered or not — might ultimately save his life.

    "We're very grateful that they're helping us," said the daughter, adding that she believes most Canadians oppose capital punishment but hopes they would also back the push for clemency because of what she describes as the "transformation" her father has made in his life since 1982.

    "I hope they would look at all aspects of it and judge him on who he is, not on who he was," she said. "He is a different person."

    Smith's daughter, when asked what she would say to the families of his two victims, said: "I would hope they would see it in their hearts to have forgiveness for him. I would hope they would see he has changed and he's very, very remorseful."

    The women's comments about Smith echoed the themes contained in his lawyers' 19-page application for clemency, delivered last month to state parole officials and setting the stage for Schweitzer's life-or-death decision, likely to come later this year.

    The clemency request, accompanied by two lengthy letters of support from a Catholic priest and a retired prison educator, detailed Smith's record as a model inmate, the abusive childhood Smith suffered growing up Alberta and his "heartfelt remorse" over the killings of Mad Man and Running Rabbit.

    http://www.canada.com/Ronald+Smith+f...138/story.html

  6. #26
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Two days set aside for clemency hearing for only Canadian on death row in U.S.

    A clemency hearing has been set for two days in early May for the only Canadian on death row in the United States.

    Ronald Smith, 54, originally from Red Deer, Alta., has been on death row for the murders of Thomas Running Rabbit and Harvey Mad Man Jr. 30 years ago near East Glacier, Mont.

    The Montana Board of Pardons and Parole has set aside May 2-3 for the clemency hearing in Deer Lodge, near the federal penitentiary where Smith has spent the last three decades of his life.

    "The hearing will be conducted as a parole hearing. Witness testimony will be submitted but witnesses will not be subject to cross-examination," Smith's lawyer, Greg Jackson, said in an email to The Canadian Press.

    "The board may, however, question the witnesses."

    Jackson said there will be initial arguments on the first day and the board will take public comments on the second. Each statement, similar to a victim impact statement, will be limited to three minutes.

    Smith's daughter and sister are expected to make a plea for his life.

    Jessica Crawford, Running Rabbit's daughter, told The Canadian Press before Christmas that she will ask the board to recommend clemency.

    "I think he should just remain locked away. That's my feelings for it now,'' Crawford said.

    "I just feel it is more of a punishment for him that he just sit out his years.''

    The Canadian government has also requested that Smith's life be spared on humanitarian grounds, while at the same time condemning his actions.

    The board will make a recommendation, but the final decision will fall to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

    Smith pleaded guilty to two charges of deliberate homicide and two charges of aggravated kidnapping in February 1983 and requested the death penalty. He rejected a plea deal offered by prosecutors which would have given him life in prison.

    He later changed his mind and asked the District Court to reconsider the death penalty. That has led to three decades of legal wrangling.

    Smith was 24 and taking LSD and drinking when he and two friends met up with Running Rabbit and Mad Man near East Glacier. Smith and Rodney Munro marched the two men into the woods where Munro stabbed one of the victims and Smith shot both of them.

    Munro accepted a plea deal, was eventually transferred to a Canadian prison and has completed his sentence.

    His clemency application says Smith is a changed man.

    "In the face of the harsh circumstances of being locked down in virtual isolation for 28 years, he has nonetheless made a genuine attempt to live a life that exhibits remorse, rehabilitation, a changed heart and mind and a potential for good,'' reads the document prepared by lawyers Jackson and Don Vernay.

    "We request that you consider and grant this application and commute Mr. Smith's sentence from death to life without parole.''

    Smith's lawyers say his drug and alcohol use impaired his judgment. They also say he received poor advice from his lawyer at the time.

    "As a result of the combination of his guilt over the offences, his virtual isolation in a foreign country without consular assistance and the deplorable actions of his trial attorney, he instead chose to plead guilty and requested the death penalty,'' argue Jackson and Vernay.

    "Upon being placed in a less isolated environment, he immediately realized both the foolishness and impulsiveness of his actions and sought ... the original sentence offered by the state of Montana, but the state has adamantly refused to consider his request.''

    http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/can...139045464.html

  7. #27
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Canadian on death row 'bothered' by lack of support he's received from Ottawa

    With the clock ticking down toward a decision on whether he lives or dies, the only Canadian on death row in the United States is expressing regret and sadness for the crimes he committed and the situation he finds himself in.

    But Ronald Smith is also angry at the Canadian government for its "tepid" support of his clemency bid — support that came only after Federal Court forced Ottawa to act on Smith's behalf.

    "It bothered me," Smith said in an interview with The Canadian Press at Montana State Prison — his home for the last 30 years.

    "There was no need to make it a point that: 'We're being forced into this.' Come on, really? Am I that horrible a person that you have to be forced to act like a human being?

    "I was a little grumpy about it."

    Smith, originally from Red Deer, Alta., has been on death row since 1982. A drug-addicted drifter back then, Smith and an accomplice, both of them high on LSD and booze, marched Thomas Running Rabbit and Harvey Mad Man Jr. into the woods near East Glacier, Mont., and shot them in the head.

    They were cold-blooded killings. Smith said he shot the men just to know how it felt to take a life and because he wanted to steal their car.

    Smith asked for and received a death sentence, but later changed his mind. His legal avenues of appeal have all run out and the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole has scheduled a hearing in May after which it will make a recommendation on whether Smith should be spared. The final decision will fall to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

    Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government initially refused to support Smith, saying he had been convicted in a democratic country. The decision ran counter to a long-standing policy of seeking clemency for Canadians sentenced to death in foreign lands. The Federal Court ruled the government had to back Smith.

    The government did write a letter asking the board to spare Smith's life, but its public support for the bid has been minimal.

    "The government of Canada does not sympathize with violent crime and this letter should not be construed as reflecting a judgment on Mr. Smith's conduct,'' the letter said. "The government of Canada ... requests that you grant clemency to Mr. Smith on humanitarian grounds.''

    The letter was signed by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird

    "I feel a little bit of both (anger and hurt)," Smith said. "They don't know me. They're taking a look at what happened to me all that time ago. They're not taking a look at anything else.

    "I don't think it will hurt, but it's not going to be a benefit obviously."

    If Smith does win clemency, he will still spend the rest of his life behind bars.

    He realizes that he is likely to die in Montana State Prison. The only remaining questions are when and how.

    He said the support of his family — he has a daughter and two grandchildren — has helped him through his time on death row.

    And he realizes that he took two men away from their own loved ones.

    "I've always wanted an opportunity to step outside of all of this, and to be able to apologize to the family and explain to them just everything about me at that point in time. I was a completely different person," Smith said.

    "I'm not looking for forgiveness. I don't think that is a possibility. I can see what it did to my family, so it's got to be considerably more to them because I'm still here. I've taken that away from them so again I try not to dwell on it."

    If Smith's bid for clemency fails, another execution date will be scheduled and there won't be any last-minute appeals that can rescue him from a lethal injection.

    "I never did fear it. You've got to remember I'm the one that asked for this. The fear of dying — there's never been an issue with it. It is what it is. We all have to go at some time," Smith said.

    "It's got to be over. Thankfully we've hit this point in time where there's no more long, drawn-out waiting. We're going to get it over one way or another. It's like triple overtime."

    Family members of Smith's victims said in the past that they wanted to see him executed, but that feeling has subsided among at least one relative recently.

    Jessica Crawford, Running Rabbit's daughter, told The Canadian Press before Christmas that she will ask the board to recommend clemency. She said before seeing Smith in person at a hearing she had built him into some kind of monster, but she then realized he is just a man.

    Smith said he isn't about to minimize what he did.

    "She was about the same age as my daughter when this all fell out. From a child's perspective I was some kind of monster. I'm not saying that I wasn't ...I killed people.

    "I was a monster at the time. It's not who I am now."

    http://www.brandonsun.com/national/b...073.html?thx=y

  8. #28
    Senior Member Frequent Poster stixfix69's Avatar
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    I love this line : "I was a monster at the time. It's not who I am now." He acts like he deserves a do over, shame the people he killed can't have that option to come back to life.

  9. #29
    Administrator Michael's Avatar
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    I can´t understand why these criminals doesen´t understand that they get they sentence for their actions and their criminal history at/until their crime which brought them on the DR. I don´t care what happens after they got their sentence. It doesen´t matter.... I think this principle is easy to understand.

  10. #30
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    New Montana warden prepared to carry out death sentence if that day comes

    If the only Canadian on death row in the United States is unsuccessful in his plea for mercy in May, it will likely be Leroy Kirkegard who oversees what happens next.

    As the warden of Montana State Prison, it's Kirkegard role to make sure executions are carried out. There are only two inmates on death row at his institution. Double-murderer Ronald Smith, of Red Deer, Alta., is one of them.

    "It is a load on my shoulders but I've made that commitment to the State of Montana when I was hired for this job. I'm prepared to carry it out," said Kirkegard, in an interview with The Canadian Press from his office in Deer Lodge.

    "It's not something I'm looking forward to, but if the State of Montana says that's what we have to do, I'm prepared to do that."

    Kirkegard moved to his post last November, after spending 20 years working in detention services in Las Vegas. He presides over 1,467 inmates at the federal prison, located in the middle of a 15,000 hectare ranch six kilometres west of Deer Lodge.

    Smith is one of the most high-profile.

    He was sent to death row for the 1982 shootings of Thomas Running Rabbit and Harvey Mad Man Jr. near East Glacier, Mont.

    Smith and his buddies were on a drug-addled road trip through the U.S. The killings were cold blooded. Smith asked for and received the death penalty after pleading guilty. He later changed his mind, but his legal appeals have run out.

    A clemency hearing is scheduled in Deer Lodge for May 2 and 3 before the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole, which will make a recommendation to Gov. Brian Schweitzer.

    It is Schweitzer that ultimately decides if Smith spends the rest of his life behind bars or dies. It is Kirkegard's burden to carry out the governor's wishes.

    "There's nothing fun about it," said Kirkegard.

    He knew what he was signing on for when he took the job. But he acknowledges he still needs to do a bit of homework.

    "I'm going to be very honest with you. We have a very big manual, the execution protocol, and I haven't got all the way through it yet. And my role is to supervise the entire procedure from 45 days prior until it actually happens," said Kirkegard.

    "It's a lot of teamwork, it's a lot of co-ordinating activity and, as far as my day to day and hour to hour, minute to minute duties, I can't tell you what they're going to be at this point."

    There have been 74 people executed in Montana since 1863, and three have been killed by lethal injection since 1995. The last execution occurred in August 2006.

    The warden said he doesn't have strong views on the death penalty and, in the end, it wouldn't matter if he did.

    "It's something I will have to deal with and I'll deal with it at the time."

    http://thetyee.ca/CanadianPress/2012...rden-17169579/

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