Complication in Alberta man’s death sentence

EDMONTON – A Montana judge has added another wrinkle to Ronald Smith’s attempt to avoid death by lethal injection.

District court Judge Jeffery Sherlock has ordered a trial on whether new drugs Montana wants to use to kill death-row inmates act quickly enough.

Smith, who is originally from Red Deer, killed two Montana men in 1983.

He asked for a death sentence, but had a change of heart and has been fighting his execution for more than 30 years.