WEST JORDAN, Utah — A judge will decide whether or not to delay condemned killer Ralph Leroy Menzies' execution and instead order a new mental competency evaluation.
After a hearing late Wednesday, 3rd District Court Judge Matthew Bates took the case under advisement with a promise to issue a ruling soon.
Menzies is facing a firing squad execution on Sept. 5 for the 1988 kidnapping and killing of Maurine Hunsaker. She was taken from her job at a convenience store and tied to a tree in Big Cottonwood Canyon where her throat was slit.
Menzies has dementia, but Judge Bates ruled in June that he is mentally competent enough to be executed. His lawyers have renewed arguments that his condition continues to worsen and that to execute him now would violate the U.S. Constitution. In court on Wednesday, Menzies sat next to his attorneys in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank and tubes running into his nose.
Judge signs death warrant for condemned killer Ralph Menzies:
"This court cannot allow an execution to go forward where there is a substantial question about his competency," Menzies' attorney, Eric Zuckerman, told the judge, adding that his client has seen a severe decline and had a severe hypoxic event.
A prison worker submitted an affidavit to the court suggesting a significant decline in Menzies' mental state.
In addition to Wednesday's request for a new evaluation, Menzies' defense attorneys have also filed an appeal with the Utah Supreme Court and sought commutation of his sentence with the Utah Board of Pardons & Parole.
The Utah Attorney General's Office has offered another evaluation (for his upcoming commutation hearings), but Zuckerman said he did not want the state's preffered experts. Instead, he argued for an independent evaluation.
But lawyers for the state insisted that Menzies still understands he is to be executed, which meets the threshold under Utah law.
"We believe his own proffer shows he is aware Ms. Hunsaker was the victim in this case, which highly suggests he knows he was convicted of killing her. He knows he’s awaiting execution," assistant Utah Attorney General Daniel Boyer told the judge.
The state also suggested some recent phone calls Menzies made in prison were "highly relevant" to questions about competency. However, those are under a protective order.
"We are even more firmly convinced there is no issue here," Boyer said.
Hunsaker's son, Matt, addressed the judge and pointed out they have been in and out of court for 39 years now. He said they want it over.
"Regardless of how it’s going to be, no matter what happens, it’s always going to be 'I’m worse, I’m worse.' Where do you draw the line in determining this? Like I told the judge, I believe he’s just playing," Matt Hunsaker told reporters as he left court.
