Salt Lake City, Utah – June 7, 2025 — In a landmark ruling that has reignited debate over capital punishment and mental competence, a Utah judge has declared that Ralph Leroy Menzies, a 67-year-old death row inmate with dementia, is mentally fit to be executed.
Judge Matthew Bates issued the decision late Friday, concluding that despite Menzies’ deteriorating cognitive state, he “consistently and rationally understands” the nature of his crime and the reason for his impending execution.
Menzies was sentenced to death in 1988 for the brutal murder of 26-year-old Maurine Hunsaker, a mother of three. After abducting her from the convenience store where she worked, Menzies strangled her and cut her throat in a remote picnic area in the Wasatch Mountains. He was later arrested on unrelated charges while in possession of Hunsaker’s belongings.
Over nearly four decades, Menzies’ attorneys have filed numerous appeals, delaying his execution several times. The most recent challenge centered on his severe dementia and memory loss. Defense attorneys argued that executing a man with such significant cognitive impairments violated the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.
“Ralph Menzies is a severely brain-damaged, wheelchair-bound, 67-year-old man with dementia and significant memory problems,” said defense attorney Lindsey Layer in a statement following the ruling. “It is deeply troubling that Utah plans to remove Mr. Menzies from his wheelchair and oxygen tank to strap him into an execution chair and shoot him to death.”
Menzies previously chose the firing squad as his method of execution, which is still permitted under Utah law. If carried out, he would become only the sixth person in the U.S. executed by firing squad since 1977.
The Utah Attorney General’s Office is expected to file a death warrant soon, though Menzies’ legal team has vowed to appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court.
The case has drawn comparisons to a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court decision that blocked the execution of an Alabama inmate with dementia, citing a lack of understanding of his punishment. However, Judge Bates ruled that Menzies had failed to demonstrate any such lack of comprehension that would exempt him.
For the family of Maurine Hunsaker, the ruling marks a long-awaited milestone.
Matt Hunsaker, who was just 10 years old when his mother was killed, expressed mixed emotions. “We’re overwhelmed. It’s been a long and painful road, but knowing that justice is finally being served brings us some peace,” he said.
The execution date has not yet been set.
