The ACLU of Montana opposes the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment. Please urge Gov. Brian Schweitzer to grant clemency to Ronald Smith.

In a May 2, 2012 letter to the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole and Gov. Schweitzer, ACLU Staff Attorney and Director of the Montana Prison Project Anna Conley wrote, "We believe state-sanctioned killing of an individual is inherently cruel, unusual and inhumane, regardless of the crimes that individual committed in the past," adding that such punishment is prohibited by the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

These protections are heightened in Montana by our state constitution's emphasis on human dignity. The very basis of human dignity is life itself.

"The death penalty contradicts the very basic fundamental constitutional principles we as Montanans hold sacred."

Former Montana Supreme Court Justice Karla Gray points out "the cause of death on all three death certificates of the people executed in recent years in Montana give the cause of death as 'homicide.'"

The ACLU is currently partnering with co-operating attorneys, Ron Waterman and Julie Johnson from Gough, Shanahan, Johnson and Waterman in Helena, and, Greg Jackson of Helena on a lawsuit, Smith v. Ferriter, challenging the state's lethal injection procedure.

Seventeen states and 97 countries have abolished the death penalty as a violation of basic human rights. "Montana should be riding the crest of this wave, not floundering in its wake," Conley said.

Take action today, and urge Gov. Schweitzer to grant clemency to Ronald Smith.

And learn more about the ACLU of Montana's and other organizations' efforts to end the death penalty and find out how you can help at www.mtabolitionco.org, the website of the Montana Abolition Coalition.