Lawsuit delays setting Alta. man's execution date

Lawyers for the only Canadian on death row have won another stay in the setting of an execution date.

A hearing had been scheduled for this week in Deer Lodge, Mont., to set a new execution date for Ronald Smith, who is originally from Red Deer, Alta.

But his lawyer, Greg Jackson, said Montana's attorney general has agreed to stay any proceedings against Smith until an American Civil Liberties Union challenge is heard.

The lawsuit, launched on behalf of Smith, contends that death by lethal injection is unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, but it has been on hold until Montana State Prison finishes the construction of its new death chamber.

Jackson said it would likely be "a matter of months" before the case goes ahead.

Smith was convicted of fatally shooting two cousins, Harvey Madman Jr. and Thomas Running Rabbit, while he was high on drugs and alcohol near East Glacier, Mont., in 1982.