Judge Rules Judge Rules

one Utah convicted killer A state judge ruled Friday that he had enough ability to develop dementia during his death row.

Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was found guilty and sentenced to death in March 1988 for the 1986 killing of Maurine Hunsaker, a 26-year-old mother of three.

Judge Matthew Bates said Menzies “consistently understands” that despite his recent decline in cognitive abilities, he is facing execution.

“Menzies did not pass a lot of evidence that his understanding of his specific crimes and punishments fluctuated or refused in a way that offends the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments.

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Menzies chose the shooting squad as his method of execution and will be the sixth prisoner to be fired since 1977, three of whom were in Utah, the last in the state in 2010, and two in South Carolina this year.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office is expected to file a death order soon.

Menzies’ lawyers have argued that their client’s dementia was so severe that he didn’t understand why he was executed, adding that they planned to appeal Friday’s ruling State Supreme Court.

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“Ralph Menzies is a serious brain damage, in a wheelchair, with a 67-year-old man suffering from dementia and major memory problems,” his attorney Lindsey Layer said in a statement. “It is disturbing that Utah plans to remove Mr. Menzies from the wheelchair and oxygen tank, tie him to an execution chair and shoot him to death.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has previously exempted dementia from death sentence inmates, including an Alabama man in 2019 Kill a policeman.

Menzies’ lawyers have filed multiple appeals since sentences 37 years ago, delaying his death sentence, which has been scheduled at least twice before being postponed.

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Menzies kidnapped Hunsaker from the convenience store where she worked in February 1986, only three days after he was released on bail for an unrelated crime. Later, Hensk was found to have been cut off and strangled to death in the picnic area of ​​Wasage Mountains, Utah.

When he was later sentenced to jail for something unrelated, Menzies had Hunsaker’s wallet and other items that belonged to her. He was convicted First-degree murder and other crimes.

Matt Hunsaker, who was killed when he was 10, said Friday that his family was so overwhelmed that he knew the justice would eventually be served.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.