Only Canadian on death row in U.S. seeks clemency

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

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

Theformer resident of Red Deer, Alta., 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 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.