WEST JORDAN, Utah — A judge has denied condemned killer Ralph Leroy Menzies' request for a new competency evaluation.
In a ruling issued Thursday, 3rd District Court Judge Matthew Bates said essentially that not enough has changed to merit a new evaluation. Menzies' attorneys had argued that his dementia had worsened. They wanted new evaluations, arguing it would show he could not be executed under the Eight Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"The petition thus supports Menzies’s claim that his physical and mental difficulties have worsened over time. But his current difficulties are not substantially different from the difficulties he reported during his initial petition," Judge Bates wrote.
Citing prison phone calls submitted as evidence, Judge Bates said it was not enough.
"Menzies argues that these phone conversations merely show that Menzies has some moments of lucidity; they do not prove that he is lucid at all times. But Menzies has not provided any proffers or allegations of specific instances when Menzies has displayed irrational or confused thinking. At most, he has shown that Menzies is struggling physically and his memory is not as good as it used to be," the judge wrote.
"Forgetfulness, an inability to concentrate, and a paucity of language do not amount to a lack of an ability to reach a rational understanding of the link between crime and punishment. Menzies has not alleged sufficient facts or provided sufficient evidence that raises a significant question of whether Menzies is incapable of understanding that he is being executed because he killed Maureen Hunsaker."
Menzies' attorneys have already filed an appeal of the judge's ruling. He is also in the midst of a commutation hearing before the Utah Board of Pardons & Parole. A separate appeal will be heard before the Utah Supreme Court later this month.
Menzies is scheduled to die by firing squad on Sept. 5 for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker. She was taken from her job, tied to a tree and her throat was slit.
