Canadian killer to plead for life in Montana

The only Canadian on death row in the United States is expected to make a plea for his life at his clemency hearing in Montana this week.

Ronald Smith, 54, has been on death row since 1982 after he and an accomplice, both high on drugs, marched Thomas Running Rabbit and Harvey Mad Man Jr. into the woods near East Glacier, Mont., and shot both of them in the head.

It was a cold-blooded crime. They wanted to steal the men's car, but Smith also said he wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.

His is the final name on the list of 16 witnesses put forward by his attorneys for the two-day clemency hearing before the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole beginning Wednesday in Deer Lodge, north of Butte. The hearing is being held near the federal penitentiary where Smith, originally from Red Deer, Alta., has been locked up for the last three decades.

"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 in an interview last month with The Canadian Press. "It's who I am, who I've become and what I've got going into the future."

The decision to speak at the hearing before the three-member panel was entirely up to Smith, said Don Vernay, Smith's co-counsel.

"What we want to do is wait until everything is done and then have the last word," he said. "He's got to speak to the board. These are the people who are going to decide if he lives or dies. He's going to express his remorse and his desire to live."

Flood of support

A flood of supportseeking mercy for Smith has been flowing into the board's office.

"Our office has received and continues to receive a colossal amount of support for the commutation from around the world based on individuals' moral beliefs against the death penalty rather than a personal investment or opinion with this particular case," a board staffer wrote in aleaked reportobtained by The Canadian Press last month.

That report, whichangered Smith's lawyers, recommended that the panel deny the request clemency, leading his legal team to suggest that the decision might already have been made.

One of the letters is from the secretary-general of The Council of Europe, a 47-country organization that focuses on human rights and the protection of individuals. The letter argues Smith has expressed regret for his "deplorable" actions, has reformed his life and developed strong relationships with family members.

'It's a case that calls out for clemency.' Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae

There is alsoa letter from the Canadian government, which has been criticized for publicly lacking determination on the Smith file.

The government initially refused to back Smith's calls for clemency, saying he had been convicted in a democratic country. But the Federal Court ruled it must follow the long-standing practice of lobbying on behalf of Canadians sentenced to death in other countries and the letter was sent.

"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 Dec. 5 letter from Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird reads. "The government of Canadarequests that you grant clemency to Mr. Smith on humanitarian grounds."

Rae writes to governor

Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae has sent his own letter to the board and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer requesting clemency.

"It's well known that the Government of Canada right now is enormously ambivalent about this," Rae said in a telephone interview. "It's a case that calls out for clemency. There's no question he's accepted his responsibility for what happened and has shown a great deal of contrition and remorse about it."

Smith's daughter, who is now 35, will appear at the hearing.

"He did something badhe screwed plenty of stuff upbut he didn't sit in there and let himself waste away, continue with the drugs and all that stuff," Carmen Blackburn told The Canadian Press. "He's a good man.

"How do you tell someone how much you love them and how much they mean to your family? It's a hard thing to describe because it's your heart and that's what he ishe's my heart."

Jessica Crawford, Running Rabbit's daughter and Mad Man's cousin, could not be reached for comment. But last December she told The Canadian Press that while her late grandparents wanted to see Smith put to death, she would rather see Smith spend the rest of his days behind bars.

Mark Warren, a spokesman for Amnesty International and a legal researcher specializing in the cases of foreign nationals sentenced to death in the United States, has also requested clemency.

'Flood of letters'

"I think at the very least this flood of letters tells the board that people worldwide are watching and waiting for a fair decision in Mr. Smith's case," Warren said. "Montana is not exactly Texas when it comes to the death penalty. They've only carried out three executions in the past 40 years and they commuted one death sentence. There are only two prisoners on death row in Montana."

Once the parole board delivers its recommendation, Smith's fate will ultimately end up in the hands of Schweitzer, a Democrat whose term in office will run out in November.

Schweitzer won't comment during the clemency process, but talked about death penalty cases in an interview last year.

"You're not talking to a governor who is jubilant about these things," he said from his office in Helena. "It feels like you're carrying more than the weight of an Angus bull on your shoulders."