Capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
.
Of the states that currently retain the death penalty, Montana is the only one that has not handed down a death sentence in the 21st century. The last time the state sentenced a defendant to death was in 1996. The state has not carried out an execution in over fifteen years, with its last execution carried out in 2006, when
David Thomas Dawson was executed for three murders. Montana has currently two condemned inmates, including Canadian
Ronald Allen Smith
Ronald Allen Smith (born September 7, 1957) is a Canadian man who was sentenced to death in Montana for murdering two people. As of 2019, Smith is one of two prisoners on Montana's death row (the other is William Gollehon). Judge Jeffrey Sherlock ...
for the kidnapping and murder of two Aboriginal men.
Legal process
Montana is the only state where the sentence is decided by the trial judge alone rather than by a jury or by a three-judge panel. But the jury is the trier of facts for both the murder and the aggravating factor making the defendant eligible for the death penalty.
The
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
has the power of clemency with respect to death sentences.
Lethal injection is the only method of execution provided by statutes.
Hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging ...
was authorized until 1994.
Capital crimes
Under Montana law, deliberate homicide is punishable by death when committed:
#By an offender while in official detention;
#By an offender who had been previously convicted of another deliberate homicide;
#By means of
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
;
#By lying in wait or ambush;
#As a part of a scheme or operation that, if completed, would result in the death of more than one person;
#During the course of committing
sexual assault, sexual intercourse without consent, deviate sexual conduct, or incest, and
the victim was less than 18 years of age.
#Against a peace officer killed while performing the officer's duty.
Montana statute books still provide the death penalty for various non-homicidal crimes against the person, including aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual intercourse without consent by a person with a prior record for aggravated sexual intercourse without consent which has resulted in serious bodily injury during the course of committing each offence, and attempted murder, aggravated assault, or aggravated kidnapping committed while in official detention and such person was previously convicted of murder or was found to be a persistent felony offender, and one of the convictions was for an offense against the person
[Montana Code ยง 45-5-503. Aggravating circumstances.] but the death penalty for these crimes is no longer constitutional since the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case ''
Kennedy v. Louisiana
''Kennedy v. Louisiana'', 554 U.S. 407 (2008), is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause prohibits imposing the death penalty for the rape of a chi ...
''.
See also
*
List of people executed in Montana
The following is a list of people executed by the U.S. state of Montana since capital punishment was resumed in 1976.
A total of 3 people convicted of murder have been executed since the ''Gregg v. Georgia'' decision. They were all executed by le ...
*
List of death row inmates in Montana
*
Crime in Montana
*
Law of Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia ...
References
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
Montana law
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