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2025-06-08 -Lurid Crime Tales-
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Utah killer with dementia is competent enough for death sentence to be carried out, judge rules
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[FoxNews] Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was sentenced to death in 1988 after he was convicted of killing Maurine Hunsaker, a young mother of three
A convicted killer in Utah who developed dementia during his time on death row is competent enough to be executed, a state judge ruled on Friday.
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 and rationally understands" what is happening and why he is facing execution, despite his recent cognitive decline.
"Menzies has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that his understanding of his specific crime and punishment has fluctuated or declined in a way that offends the Eighth Amendment," which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments, Bates said in his court order.
Menzies selected the firing squad as his method of execution and will become only the sixth U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad since 1977 — three in Utah, with the last one in the state carried out in 2010, and two in South Carolina this year.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office is expected to file a death warrant soon.
Menzies’ lawyers had argued their client's dementia was so severe that he could not understand why he was being put to death, adding that they plan to appeal Friday's ruling to the state Supreme Court. 
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-06-08 00:00||
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