Canada won't fight to save murderer Ronald Smith from execution in Montana

Alberta-born killer Ronald Smith faces the death penalty in Montana for the 1982 murders of two men.

The Canadian government will not be voicing its opposition to the death penalty during a clemency hearing next month in Montana for Alberta-born Ronald Smith, the only Canadian on death row in the United States.

The May 2 hearing will be the only public opportunity for supporters of Smith's last-ditch bid to avoid execution to try to convince the state's parole board — and ultimately Gov. Brian Schweitzer — to commute the Canadian's death sentence to life imprisonment for the gunshot killings of two American men in 1982.

And while a senior government official told Postmedia News on Thursday that Canada "will be sending an observer" to Smith's hearing, the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has made it clear the government will not make any special submissions to the parole panel to support the clemency effort.

"Ultimately, decisions regarding Mr. Smith's case lie with the relevant U.S. authorities," said Foreign Affairs spokesperson Aliya Mawani. "Mr. Smith pleaded guilty and was subsequently convicted of murdering two people. These were admitted crimes."

Mawani added, however, that Smith would "continue to receive consular assistance" from Canadian diplomats in the U.S. and that the government — through a letter sent to Montana authorities in December that stated it is legally obliged to support the clemency effort — "has complied" with a 2009 Federal Court of Canada decision ordering Ottawa to help Smith.

The letter stressed the Canadian 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."

That Dec. 5 letter, signed by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, was later denounced by opposition critics as the weakest possible expression of Canada's official rejection of capital punishment and as a bare-minimum gesture of compliance by the Conservative government with the 2009 Federal Court decision.

In contrast, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler — the party's critic on justice and human rights issues — sent letters to both Schweitzer and the Montana parole board this week strongly urging the state to commute Smith's death sentence in recognition of Canada's abolitionist position on capital punishment and because, as noted in a 2010 U.S. Court of Appeals ruling, "by all accounts, Ronald Smith has reformed his life" over the course of his 30-year imprisonment.

"Having regard to all the considerations relating to justice and humanity — and the overriding consideration of the sanctity of human life — where no purpose, in this case, would be served by Mr. Smith's execution, I would respectfully urge you to grant Mr. Smith clemency."

In October 2007, following a Postmedia News story detailing efforts by Canadian diplomats to lobby Schweitzer to commute Smith's death sentence and permit his transfer to a Canadian prison, the Conservative government abruptly ended support for the clemency effort and announced that Canada would no longer automatically work to prevent the execution of all Canadians facing the death penalty in other countries.

That decision, defended by Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the time as being more consistent with his government's tough-on-crime policies, sparked a firestorm in Parliament, with opposition parties accusing the Conservatives of not only taking an untenable "case-by-case" approach on the issue of capital punishment for Canadians abroad, but also of subtly signalling their intent to someday reintroduce the death penalty in this country — a charge Harper has repeatedly denied.

The 2007 policy shift also prompted the lawsuit filed by Smith and his lawyers that led to the 2009 Federal Court decision forcing the Canadian government to reverse its new stance and to re-launch clemency efforts in Montana.

Smith, now 54, was 24 when he killed two young aboriginal men — Thomas Running Rabbit and Harvey Mad Man — in a wooded area south of the Alberta-Montana border.

The two Blackfeet Indian cousins had stopped their car to give Smith and two of his hitchhiking companions from Canada a ride. Smith later marched Running Rabbit and Mad Man into the woods at gunpoint, murdered them and stole their car.

After his arrest, Smith confessed to the crimes and initially asked to be executed. He later changed his mind and began what turned into a 25-year legal fight — fully backed by Canadian officials until the Conservatives' 2007 policy change — to avoid execution.

Smith's 19-page application for clemency — submitted earlier this year and accompanied by two other lengthy and impassioned letters of support 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.

But last week, Smith's lawyers were inadvertently sent a copy of a pre-hearing background report by a parole board official that cast doubt on the Canadian's claims of remorse and good behaviour in prison and recommended to the parole panel that Smith not be granted clemency.

The report drew outrage from Don Vernay, a Texas-based member of Smith's legal team, who said the assessment "discounts all of Ron's good behaviour and achievements in prison" and complained: "You don't have to be a brain surgeon to see where the board is coming from."