Smith execution set for Jan. 31

DEER LODGE (AP) — A Montana judge has scheduled a Jan. 31 execution date for the only known Canadian on death row in the United States.

The execution date for 53-year-old Ronald Allen Smith of Red Deer, Alberta, was set Wednesday by District Judge John Larson in Deer Lodge.

On Monday, a Helena judge issued an order staying the execution. Smith is seeking a court ruling on whether the state's method of carrying out the death penalty is unconstitutional.

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

Smith was sentenced to death for the 1982 murders of Browning cousins Harvey Mad Man and Thomas Running Rabbit.