Ronald Smith

   
                   Alberta man sentenced to die for murder
                   in Montana loses appeal  - Tuesday, June 26, 2001
 
                   HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Ronald Smith, of Red Deer, Alta., sentenced to
                   die 18 years ago for the execution-style murders of two Montana men,
                   has inched closer to execution after losing an appeal to the U.S.
                   Supreme Court.

                   The highest U.S. court refused to consider the case last week, a move
                   that ended Smith's options in state courts, assistant attorney general
                   Mark Fowler said Tuesday.

                   "He goes back to the federal court system," he said.

                   Don Vernay of Bigfork, Mont., Smith's lawyer, agreed and said: "This
                   should be the last round of appeals."

                   The U.S. Supreme Court's decision left in place a ruling by the
                   Montana Supreme Court last December that refused to overturn
                   Smith's death sentence for the kidnapping and murders of Thomas
                   Running Rabbit and Harvey Mad Man in August 1982.

                   Smith, 43, at first wanted to be executed before changing his mind and
                   deciding to fight his execution. During myriad appeals, he has been
                   sentenced to death three times. He is one of six men on death row in
                   Montana.

                   Smith admitted to abducting and killing Running Rabbit, 20, and Mad
                   Man, 23, after the two men picked up Smith as he hitchhiked along
                   U.S. 2 near Marias Pass. Planning to steal the men's car, Smith
                   marched his victims into the nearby bushes and shot them in the head
                   with a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle.

                   Smith said later he wanted "to find out what it would be like to kill
                   somebody."

                   Vernay said the issues in the federal appeals will be the same was
                   raised in state courts, where the latest death sentence was challenged
                   as being handed down by a biased judge.

                   He claims the judge wrongly considered the earlier death sentences
                   and a report on Smith's mental condition that was prepared by the
                   state's psychiatrist.

                   In the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Smith already has argued he
                   did not have an effective lawyer when he pleaded guilty to the crimes.
                   That case is pending and Vernay expects no action to be taken until
                   the new round of federal appeals also reach the circuit court.

                   Fowler said Smith's execution will not occur any time soon.

                   "We're still a long way off. The federal procedures will take a minimum
                   of three to four years."

                   Asked if the Supreme Court's decision last week brings his client closer
                   to lethal injection, Vernay said: "Sure it does. Every time you lose one."

               Ronald Smith (DOC # Unknown)
                        700 Conley Lake Road.
                        Deer Lodge, Montana
                            59722-9707   USA

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