Hulett C. Smith, 93, former W. Va. governor who ended death penalty

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FILE - Former West Virginia Democratic Gov. Hulett C. Smith of Beckley, is seen in a 1979 file photo. Smith, who signed West Virginia's first strip mining laws and the bill that abolished the state's death penalty, died Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 in Scottsdale, Ariz, Smith's family announced. He was 93. (AP Photo, File)

Updated: February 18, 2012 8:17AM

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former West Virginia Gov. Hulett C. Smith, who signed bills in the 1960s that abolished the state’s death penalty and implemented its first strip mining laws, has died. He was 93.

Smith’s family announced Monday that the former governor died Sunday in Arizona, where he had moved to an assisted living facility last fall. Smith, a Democrat, first ran for governor in 1960, but failed to win his party’s nomination. He was elected four years later, at a time when governors were limited to a single term.

During his tenure as the state’s 27th governor, the Legislature enacted measures to control air and water pollution and to protect human rights.

When he signed the bill ending the state’s use of the death penalty, Mr. Smith noted West Virginia was the ninth state to do so and said it would prevent wrongful convictions leading to executions.

“All of this is part of a groundswell of public opinion favoring the abolishment of the death penalty, for the possibility of judicial error in such cases is a wrong that can never be righted, because it is almost always too late,” he said in prepared remarks for the March 1965 signing.

Another significant measure enacted during his term was the Modern Budget Amendment, which made the governor responsible for developing the state’s budget.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said Mr. Smith led West Virginia through some of its worst tragedies, including the collapse of the Silver Bridge in 1967 that killed 46 people and the deaths of 78 coal miners in the Farmington No. 9 mine explosion in 1968. Mr. Smith also was governor when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.

“Gov. Smith was a uniter, and I can only imagine how he would approach our political division today. I hope that his example helps all of us see the good in each other and work better together,” Manchin (D-W.Va.) said in a statement.

Born in Beckley on Oct. 21, 1918, Mr. Smith was the offspring of a political family. His father, Joe L. Smith, served eight terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1929 to 1944, and founded Beckley’s first radio station, WJLS, in 1939.

Hulett Smith attended public schools in Raleigh County, and graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance and Administration, where he majored in economics.

Following his graduation from the Wharton School, Smith worked in the insurance business and at his family’s radio station. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of lieutenant, and
ultimately became a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Naval
Reserve. AP