The news is that the American Civil Liberties Union wants state Judge Jeffrey Sherlock in Great Falls to declare lethal injection unconstitutional. Capital punishment foe and attorney Ron Waterman, who has run for election in 2008 to the Montana Supreme Court and tried for an appointment in 2009, is arguing on behalf of Ronald Allen Smith.
Smith, of course, is the Canadian thug who killed cousins Harvey Mad Man, Jr., and Thomas Running Rabbit, Jr., in cold blood on Marias Pass.
For those of us who remember this cruel and unusual crime, almost exactly 30 long years ago, August 4, 1982 seems like yesterday.
Court records state Smith and two accomplices, Rodney Munro and Andre Fontaine, sneaked across the border, on their way to Mexico. At East Glacier, they drank and played pool at the Park Bar with Harvey and Thomas, then started hitching west along U.S. Highway 2.
Fontaine and Smith had discussed the need to steal a car and kill any witnesses: Along came Harvey and Thomas, who picked up their new Canadian pals. About 20 minutes later at the first roadside relief stop, out came the weapons: Munro’s knife and a cut-off single shot .22 rifle Smith had smuggled across the border. After a short death march, Smith executed Harvey as Munro stabbed Thomas. Smith then reloaded and finished killing Thomas.
Thomas was 20. Harvey was 23 and had started a family. Both had their entire adult lives ahead of them. Instead, they were gunned down and left to rot in the woods, found only when searchers smelled them.
Munro and Fontaine took the car to California, where they were busted for robbing a convenience store. Fontaine then ratted out Smith, who was captured in Wyoming and brought back to Flathead County for trial.
Smith initially pleaded not guilty, was offered a life plea deal, but then changed his plea and requested the death penalty. At his sentencing hearing before Judge Michael Keedy in March 1983, Smith declared his “morbid fascination to find out what it would be like to kill somebody” and further testified his ability to understand his actions had not been impaired by two or three beers. Smith was sentenced to death.
Smith quickly had second thoughts. Just two months later, Smith filed for a psychiatric hearing, claiming he’d had 50 tabs of acid and twelve beers, and was too wrecked to be responsible. He was ruled capable, and denied a rehearing by Montana’s Supreme Court in late 1983. Et cetera, ad nauseam, long story short, Smith was re-sentenced to death three times, the last in 1995.
Over the years, Smith’s case has resurfaced, and each time, I’m amazed justice has not been done. Instead, we’ve learned he lifts weights, takes college classes, eats well, and is in touch with his family – little pleasures forever denied Harvey and Thomas.
With the Montana Parole Board recommending against clemency for Smith in May, Gov. Brian Schweitzer still has not decided either way.
And now, as our governor waffles, the ACLU wants Judge Sherlock to rule Montana’s 149-page execution protocol is “cruel and unusual” because Montana doesn’t train its executioners enough to ensure a pain-free lethal injection.
Well, did that .22 in the head feel good for Thomas and Harvey? How about that death march into the woods for execution? Or the 30 years for the surviving family? How about the pain inflicted on Montanans paying taxes to keep Smith alive?
Nothing cruel and unusual in all that, is there?
Still, ACLU and their allies blindly pursue injustice.
If ACLU loses, that might put Schweitzer in a bind … he’ll tick off a lot of voters whichever way he might decide.
But if ACLU wins, Schweitzer would be able to grant Smith clemency without the sort of backlash that might harm his future political goals – the courts would have decided for him.
Still, if clemency is granted, I’d ask Schweitzer to impose one condition: Release Smith in front of the Park Bar at closing time, then let him walk home to Canada.