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Canadian Death Row Prisoner - Waiting for Execution Date
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by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke | October 15, 2010 at 12:51 am
521 views | 15 Recommendations | 5 comments
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No more clemency appeals for Canadians on death row in U_S_:
sourced by Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke
A Canadian death row prisoner in Montana has exhausted all appeals and is waiting for his execution date to be set.
Ron Smith's final appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States had its door shut. The highest court in the land refused to hear his case. Ron Smith's life is now in the hands of the Democratic Governor of Montana.
Ron Smith was convicted of murder in 1983 for killing two young Montana men. Originally Smith had asked for the death penalty, but has since changed his mind and has been fighting the death penalty ever since.
This is an act that happened 26 years ago and one must ask himself the question if justice is served by executing someone that long after he/she is convicted. Regardless of which side of the death penalty issue you stand, this must give you some pause for thought.
Canada no longer has the death penalty and the Canadian public is split over this issue. Despite this the Canadian Government has refused to intervene in this case until the courts forced it.
Smith's case will now go to a Clemency board, which will hear witnesses for and against the penalty before rendering a final decision and setting an execution date. Canada can testify on behalf of Smith, but based on its past record, probably won't.
The Governor of Montana then gets the final say and he has not yet indicated which way he might go.
While there will, in all likelihood, be many voices that will push for the execution, is it really justice at this stage?
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Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke
Redwater, Alberta, Canada
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (5)
at 04:13 on October 15th, 2010
Ok, why did they not execute him 26 years ago when he had asked to be? Why did they decide to do it now when most people have forgotten about him? Killing him now would serve no purpose. He should be just left to spend the rest of his life in prison.
at 05:05 on October 15th, 2010
I agree, 26 years after the fact, it seems purposeless.
at 08:25 on October 15th, 2010
There should be a time limit.I would think that after this long the sentence should be changed to life without parole.
at 09:50 on October 15th, 2010
I agree. This is not the same man they sentenced 26 years ago. He has spend 26 years of his life in jail.
at 16:56 on November 14th, 2010
He was granted an extended stay by the legal system. Perhaps it has nothing to do with the fact that it costs us taxpaxers fourty seven thousand dollars a year to keep Mr Smith in prison, or maybe it does. By now, Smith has brought in roughly 1.2 million in tax dollars. If I owned the prison, and an inmate brought in that kind of money a year. I woulnd't touch him. He would be my golden goose that literally laid solid gold eggs. Regardless of the fact that Smith took two very special lives from the community of Montana. It is understandable the kind of stress that would result from waiting to be executed for twenty six years as overwhelming, so it seems feasible to agree on setting Smith free or let him remain for the rest of his life in prison. But if we do allow him to live, and he does live another twenty six years in jail; he would most likely cost us another million dollars in tax dollars. If we set him free, a new light of forgivness will be established in the community of Montana. However, Smith might reestablish his old habits as the pressures of life re introduce themselves. The only action that makes sense is to execute the conviction immediately. Economize.