SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Supreme Court has overturned condemned killer Ralph Leroy Menzies' firing squad execution, ordering a new mental competency evaluation.
In a unanimous ruling issued late Friday, the Court overruled a judge who denied his request for a new mental competency hearing. Menzies' lawyers have argued he has dementia and to execute him would violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
"Menzies's vascular dementia and its progressive effects call into question whether he remains competent to be executed. We acknowledge that this uncertainty has caused the family of Maurine Hunsaker immense suffering, and it is not our desire to prolong that suffering. But we are bound by the rule of law, and the law dictates that if Menzies makes a prima facie showing a substantial change of circumstances that raises a significant question about his competency to be executed, a district court must reevaluate his competency, even though it may cause additional delays," Chief Justice Matthew Durrant wrote.
The justices ordered new evaluations and vacated Menzies' death warrant.
The decision means Menzies' firing squad execution is off next week and may likely never happen. Menzies is condemned to die for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, who was kidnapped from her job at a Kearns gas station, tied to a tree in Big Cottonwood Canyon and her throat slit.
"Maureen Hunsaker’s family members are obviously very distraught and disappointed at the Supreme Court’s decision," Matt Hunsaker, Maurine's son, said in a text message to FOX 13 News and asking for privacy.
Hunsaker had told reporters after the Utah Supreme Court ruling on Menzies' execution that if they did not uphold the lower court? He doubted Menzies would ever be put to death.
The Utah Attorney General's Office had no comment saying it was reviewing the ruling.
"We are pleased that the Supreme Court has ensured Mr. Menzies will not be executed without the benefit of an updated, independent competency evaluation. It has been more than a year since his last evaluation, during which time his dementia has significantly worsened. He’s tethered to an oxygen tank, uses a wheelchair, is confused and disoriented, and no longer understands why the State of Utah is trying to kill him. We look forward to presenting our case in the trial court," Menzies' lawyer, Lindsay Layer, wrote in an email to FOX 13 News.
In a statement, the Utah Department of Corrections said it "respects the decision of the Utah Supreme Court."
"We will continue to carefully monitor the situation and remain prepared to carry out the sentence of the court when and if we are called upon to do so," executive director Jared Garcia said.
Read the Utah Supreme Court's ruling here:
