U.S. judge sets execution date for Alta. man

A Montana judge has scheduled a Jan. 31 execution date for the only known Canadian on death row in the United States.

District Judge John Larson in Deer Lodge decided Wednesday on the date for the lethal injection of 53-year-old Ronald Allen Smith of Red Deer, Alta., according to the Missoulian newspaper.

On Monday a judge in Helena, Mont., had 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 says Larson will ask the state Supreme Court to look at the apparently conflicting orders and clear up the issue before January.

Smith faces the death penalty for the 1982 murders of cousins Harvey Mad Man and Thomas Running Rabbit.

The Canadian government has asked Montana officials to grant clemency.