A Utah judge on Wednesday scheduled the execution of a man with dementia who has spent 37 years on death row, despite ongoing appeals from his attorneys, who argue his condition is deteriorating.
Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is scheduled to be executed on September 5 for the 1986 abduction and murder of Maurine Hunsaker, a Utah mother of three. Decades ago, Menzies chose the firing squad as his method of execution. If carried out, it would make him only the sixth person in the United States executed by firing squad since 1977.
Judge Matthew Bates signed the death warrant one month after ruling that Menzies “consistently and rationally” understands the reason for his execution, despite signs of cognitive decline. Menzies’s attorneys have asked the court to reconsider, but Bates said Wednesday that the pending appeal did not prevent him from setting an execution date.
However, Bates scheduled a hearing for July 23 to review the new competency petition. Menzies’s attorneys argue that his dementia has progressed so severely that he now uses a wheelchair, depends on supplemental 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, one of Menzies’s attorneys. “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.”
Assistant Attorney General Daniel Boyer said the Utah Attorney General’s Office has “full confidence” in the judge’s decision.
The U.S. Supreme Court has, at times, blocked the execution of prisoners with dementia, including an Alabama man in 2019 who was convicted of killing a police officer. The high court has held that if a defendant cannot understand the reason for their execution, then carrying it out fails to serve the retributive purpose society seeks.
For Matt Hunsaker, who was 10 years old when his mother was killed, the long wait for justice has been “hard to swallow.”
“You issue the warrant today, you start a process for our family,” he told the judge on Wednesday. “It puts everybody on the clock. We’ve now introduced another generation to my mom, and we still don’t have justice served.”
Maurine Hunsaker, 26, was abducted by Menzies from the convenience store where she worked in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns. She was later found strangled with her throat cut about 16 miles (25 kilometers) away at a picnic area in Big Cottonwood Canyon. When Menzies was jailed on unrelated charges, authorities found Hunsaker’s wallet and other belongings in his possession. He was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes in 1988.
Utah last carried out executions by firing squad in 2010, while South Carolina used the method on two men earlier this year. Only three other states—Idaho, Mississippi, and Oklahoma—permit firing squad executions.
Menzies is one of 10 individuals scheduled for execution across seven states during the remainder of 2025. So far this year, 25 men in the U.S. have been executed by court order.
