Judge schedules execution by firing squad for man with dementia who spent 37 years on de@th row
A Utah judge on Wednesday, July 9, set an execution date for a man with dementia who has been on de@th row for 37 years. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is set to be executed on Sept. 5 for abducting and k!lling Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker in 1986. When given a choice decades ago, Menzies selected a firing squad as his method of execution. He would become only the sixth US prisoner executed by firing squad since 1977. Judge Matthew Bates signed the de@th warrant a month after he ruled Menzies consistently and rationally understands why he is facing execution despite recent cognitive decline. Attorneys for Menzies have petitioned the court for a reassessment, but Bates said Wednesday that the pending appeal was not a basis to stop him from setting a date. Bates did, however, schedule a July 23 hearing to evaluate the new competency petition. Menzies attorneys say his dementia has gotten so severe that he uses a wheelchair, is dependent on oxygen, and cannot understand his legal case. We remain hopeful that the courts or the clemency board will recognize the profound inhumanity of executing a man who is experiencing steep cognitive decline and significant memory loss, said Lindsey Layer, an attorney for Menzies. Taking the life of someone with a terminal illness who is no longer a threat to anyone and whose mind and identity have been overtaken by dementia serves neither justice nor human decency. The Utah Attorney Generals Office has full confidence in the judges decision, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Boyer said. The US Supreme Court has at times spared prisoners with dementia from execution, including an Alabama man in 2019 who had k!lled a police officer. If a defendant cannot understand why they are being put to de@th, the high court said, then an execution is not carrying out the retribution that society is seeking. For Hunsakers son Matt, who was 10 years old when his mother was killed, it has been hard to swallow that its taken this long to get justice. You issue the warrant today, you start a process for our family, he told the judge Wednesday. It puts everybody on the clock. Weve now introduced another generation of my mom, and we still dont have justice served. Hunsaker, 26, was abducted by Menzies from a convenience store where she worked in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns. She was later found strangled and her throat cut about 16 miles (25 kilometers) away at a picnic area in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Menzies had Hunsakers wallet and several other belongings when he was jailed on unrelated matters. He was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes in 1988. Over nearly four decades, attorneys for Menzies filed multiple appeals that delayed his de@th sentence, which had been scheduled at least twice before it was pushed back. Utah last executed prisoners by firing squad in 2010, and South Carolina used the method on two men this year. Only three other states; Idaho, Mississippi, and Oklahoma allow firing squad executions. Menzies is among 10 people scheduled to be put to de@th in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Twenty-five men in the U.S. have d!ed by court-ordered execution so far this year. The post Judge schedules execution by firing squad for man with dementia who spent 37 years on de@th row appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.
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