ELYRIA - A death row inmate whose attorneys contend he is mentally retarded wants a county judge to make a decision in his case and he wants it made now.
Attorneys for Raymond Smith took the rare step of asking the 9th District Court of Appeals to force county Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery to decide whether Smith, 68, is re-tarded. If Rothgery rules that Smith is retarded, Smith, who was convicted in the 1994 murder of a police informant, could not be executed.
Rothgery held hearings on the matter in late 2006 and early 2007 and also has received several briefs from both sides in the case, but hasn`t issued a ruling yet, according to court records. Smith first began pushing the mental retardation argument in 2003, according to records.
“We think we`re entitled to a ruling and if Mr. Smith shouldn`t be on death row, he shouldn`t be on death row,” said Alan Rossman, one of Smith`s attorneys.
But Rothgery said he has a busy docket and isn`t going to rush a decision.
“I`m going to make the decision when I make the decision. It`s a very complicated case with a lot of detailed evidence,” he said. “I`m not going to be pushed into making a decision until I`m ready.”
Luc Lecavalier, the psychologist who examined Smith for the defense, testified last year that he determined Smith`s IQ was 69, one point lower than the state`s threshold for execution. He said if Smith were faking, he would have had to begun faking as early as the fourth grade, based on a review of Smith`s school records.
But prosecutors contend that Smith was a successful drug dealer who earned the nickname “Jack Frost” and planned and carried out an execution-style murder, not the type of behavior a man with limited mental faculties would be capable of.
Ronald Lally, a 30-year-old crack addict, was found in Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland a day be-fore he was set to testify against Smith and his son, Daniel Smith, in a drug trial.
Daniel Smith and another man, Stanley Jalowiec, also were charged in connection with Lally`s death. Daniel Smith was cleared by a jury, but Jalowiec and Raymond Smith were convicted and sentenced to death.
Jalowiec maintains his innocence and is fighting to have his conviction overturned.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

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