HELENA, Mon. – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of the only known Canadian on death row in the United States.
Ronald Allen Smith, of Red Deer, Alberta, was down to the final appeal of his death sentence in Montana.
His case, which the Helena Independent Record says was declined Tuesday without the high court giving a reason, will go back to a Montana court to set an execution date.
That means the last hope for the 52-year-old Canadian will lie with Brian Schweitzer, the state’s Democratic governor.
Smith was convicted in 1983 of fatally shooting cousins Harvey Mad Man, 23, and Thomas Running Rabbit, 20, while he was high on drugs and alcohol.
At the time of the deaths, Smith was 25 and had crossed the border on foot the previous day with two friends and a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle. Prosecutors said he robbed the cousins and shot them execution-style.
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