While Ronald Smith’s lawyers complain about Ottawa’s ‘treachery,’ his victims’ families unmoved by clemency plea

Lawyers for Ronald Smith, the Canadian condemned to death in Montana for coldly murdering two young men 30 years ago, are furious with the Canadian government for its tepid support of Smith's clemency bid.

A Canadian consular official was supposed to read a statement of what the lawyers said was "enthusiastic" support for the former Red Deer, Alta., resident to have his death sentence commuted at Wednesday's hearing.

But Marie-Eve Lamy withdrew abruptly, telling Smith's lawyers she'd received last-minute instructions not to read the letter, The Canadian Press reported.

Instead, lawyer Don Vernay said Lamy was told she could read an earlier letter from Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, essentially a pro-forma request to grant Smith clemency "on humanitarian grounds," while stating the request was should not "be construed as reflecting a judgment on Mr. Smith's conduct."

Greg Jackson, who has represented Smith for 25 years, condemned what he called an unexplainable change yet again in Ottawa's position.

"It's been treachery," he said. "It's almost Shakespearean in nature ... They still supported clemency but they withdrew their enthusiastic support."

The newer letter that Lamy declined to read in person, was still read into the hearing record.

"Mr. Smith has served 29 years in prison for his crime and he has expressed remorse for his actions," the letter says. "The Government of Canada is seeking clemency for Mr. Smith on humanitarian grounds."

Smith, now 54, was condemned to death after pleading guilty to the 1982 shootings of cousins Thomas Mad Man, 23, and Harvey Running Rabbit, 20, members of the Blackfoot First Nation near Browning, Mont.

The two men picked up Smith, companion Ronald Munro and another man, who were hitchhiking through the state. They'd first met earlier in the day an East Glacier, Mont., bar and socialized for several hours.

Munro and Smith, who had been taking LSD and drinking, decided to steal the young men's car. Smith pulled out a sawed-off .22 calibre rifle and ordered them to pull over.

He and Munro marched Mad Man and Running Rabbit into the woods and Smith shot them both in the head.

The victims' relatives said they searched the remote country near Marias Pass for a month before the bodies were found.

"They were left there like animals," Marie Talks About, Grant's sister and an aunt to both victims, told Postmedia News before the hearing.

"We couldn't even look at them, we couldn't touch them because of the closed caskets."

Munro worked out a plea deal with prosecutors and has been out on parole for a decade, while the third man who had not participated in the killings was jailed for five years on other offences.

Smith initially requested to be put to death but changed his mind a few weeks later after getting off drugs and alcohol.

At his hearing, Smith apologized to the dead men's families.

"I do understand the pain and the suffering I put you through," he said, facing them directly from the front of the court, according to Postmedia News.

"I wish there was some way I can take it back. All I can do is go forward with my life and be a better person."

But relatives were unmoved. Running Rabbit's son, Thomas Running Rabbit IV, told the hearing he has spent his entire life watching his family suffer through Smith's appeals.

"It weighs heavy on me and it sickens me that it has come to this," said Running Rabbit, an infant when his father was murdered.

Running Rabbit said he will pursue the death penalty for Smith "to my last breath or Ronald Smith's last breath."