Few options left for Canadian on death row in U.S.

A lawyer for the only Canadian on death row in the United States says his client's fate likely depends on a life-or-death decision by the Montana governor.

Ronald Smith lost his latest appeal last week to have his original guilty plea withdrawn.

There are two legal avenues left, including an appeal to the Supreme Court, but lawyer Don Vernay concedes it will probably come down to whether Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer feels Smith deserves clemency.

Smith, originally from Red Deer, Alta., admitted to shooting two young Montana men in 1982 and originally asked for the death penalty.

But he later changed his mind and has been fighting his death sentence by arguing that he had ineffective counsel.

In rejecting the latest appeal, judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit noted it was clear Smith had changed his life.

But the judges also said the possibility of clemency fell outside of their jurisdiction.

Montana has carried out just three executions since the 1970s.