Montana schedules Canadian's execution for Jan. 31, 2011

Ronald Allen Smith

DEER LODGE, Mont. -- A Montana judge on Wednesday scheduled a Jan. 31 execution date for the only known Canadian on death row in the United States.

District Judge John Larson's order for Ronald Allen Smith's execution came two days after a Helena judge issued an order staying the execution.

Smith, 53, of Red Deer, Alberta, is seeking a court ruling on whether the state's method of carrying out the death penalty is unconstitutional.

Larson said the Helena judge's ruling on Monday "attempts, in my view, to render what I have just done annulled."

The Missoulian newspaper reported that Larson will ask the state Supreme Court to look at the apparently conflicting orders and clear up the issue before January.

Smith was convicted in 1983 of fatally shooting Harvey Mad Man, 24, and Thomas Running Rabbit. At the time of the 1982 deaths, Smith was 25 and had crossed the Canadian border on foot the previous day with two friends and a sawed-off .22-caliber rifle.

Source: AP, November 3, 2010