There’s no looking at the Ronald Allen Smith case through rose-coloured glasses. Simply put, one of Red Deer’s most famous criminals is a cold-blooded killer in the eyes of Montana’s Blackfoot Nation for executing two of its young men more than 30 years ago.
Blitzed out of his skull on a cocktail of LSD and booze in the summer of 1982, the then 24-year-old career criminal, and two of his pals embarked on a mission from hell — literally — to escape their criminal history in Canada. The hitchhiking trio was picked up on Aug. 4, 1982, in Montana’s Glacier County by Harvey Mad Man, 23, and Thomas Running Rabbit, 20. Shortly after, Smith pulled out a sawed off 22.-calibre rifle, marched the Good Samaritans into the woods where he first shot one in the head, then the other in the temple.
So why the execution? “ … I wanted to know what it felt like to kill somebody,” an arrogant, remorseless Smith told a Montana court. The then-Montana Flathead County Attorney Ted O. Lympus asked Smith: “Well, what did it feel like. How did it feel?”
“He looked at me straight in the face,” said Lympus, “and said ‘It was no big deal’.” The then-cocky Smith now sits on death row in Montana’s State Prison, which he personally requested back then, but has since changed his mind.
Today, Smith is back in the media spotlight yet again, attention he relished after his arrest, and years that followed. But this time he’s not so smug. He’s begging for clemency to avoid execution by lethal injection, saying he’s now remorseful. He wants the Trudeau government to intervene, something the Harper government refused to do.
Is Smith truly remorseful? Only he knows deep down.
“He’s not the monster he used to be,” a family member argues. But tell that to the immediate families of the victims, most of whom Smith has outlived.
“The decisions he made he has to pay for,” Running Rabbit’s son said at a clemency hearing in 2012. “He had no mercy for my father — a person I have never met.”
Smith was very upbeat in a recent interview with Canadian Press, hoping he will be allowed to return “home … if you’re willing to take me back.” He’s looking forward to becoming a great-grandfather next year.
The Liberal government has hinted it may become involved in his bid for clemency. Foreign Affairs Minister Stephan Dion says Canada has an obligation to intervene in the cases of any Canadians facing a death sentence beyond our border. Does that then mean the Liberals are now willing to intervene in every case when Canadians are abducted by terrorists in other countries demanding ransoms and using threats of death by crude execution as bait?
In all likelihood, Smith, now 59, will not be executed. Montana appears to be on the verge of abolishing the death penalty. All executions have been on hold since 2008 in that state as legal debates continue, questioning capital punishment on moral grounds.
Smith’s case gives rise to the question “Is Canada justified meddling in the U.S. legal system?” The answer is “No.” Our justice system is based on what Canadian legislators deem appropriate punishment that fits the crime on our soil. U.S. legislators have their own agenda that addresses their concerns and circumstances where hatred is brewing big time today. Multiple killings by unstable people are becoming the norm. Yes, the Canadian government can ask for “favours,” but in no way are U.S. authorities obligated to entertain the request.
Should Smith be allowed back into Canada if granted clemency? Absolutely not. Montana State Prison is home now. He boasted after the double murder he had spent most of his adult years in Canada in jail. So, by his own admission, jails are his home.
Scrolling back to Aug. 4, 1982, immediately after Smith executed the two young men, Canada’s stoned and drunk “.22-calibre-barrel gang” sped off in the stolen car to Eureka, Calif., where they held up a motel using the same rifle. Bonnie and Clyde they were not. Police stopped them near the city limits and Smith bolted, but was eventually nabbed in Wyoming. Forty-four days after Mad Man and Running Rabbit were murdered, their decomposed bodies were found.
Lympus later said the memory of that day haunted him for years. “Here Thomas and Harvey were helping these guys - they were giving them a ride. Yet what did they get in return? Cold-blooded execution.”
In the meantime, the families of the victims are unmoved by Smith’s claims he has now seen the light, and continue to push for his execution. “Ronald Smith made a choice — he made a decision,” said Jessica Crawford, Running Rabbit’s daughter. “Whether it was because of drugs or alcohol, he still made a decision. And with that decision, my dad didn’t get to see my wedding. He didn’t get to see his grandchildren or great-grandchildren.”
Lympus shared the family’s perspective on the death sentence, pointing out it was imposed on Smith’s actions in 1982, not on personal growth he may have achieved over the last 30-plus years. “What’s relevant is what took place then and what he did then. He still deserves the consequences of his behaviour.”
Rick Zemanek is a former Advocate editor.