A Utah judge set an execution date for a man with dementia who has been on death row for 37 years, even as his lawyers file appeals and argue his condition is worsening, reported The Associated Press.
Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is set to be executed Sept. 5 for
abducting and killing Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker in 1986. When given
a choice decades ago, Menzies selected a firing squad as his method of
execution. He would become only the sixth U.S. prisoner executed by firing
squad since 1977.
Judge Matthew Bates signed the death warrant a month after
he ruled Menzies “consistently and rationally” understands
why he is facing execution despite recent cognitive decline. Attorneys
for Menzies have petitioned the court for a reassessment, but Bates said
Wednesday that the pending appeal was not a basis to stop him from setting a
date.
Bates did, however, schedule a July 23 hearing to evaluate
the new competency petition. Menzies’ attorneys say his dementia has gotten so
severe that he uses a wheelchair, is dependent on 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, an
attorney for Menzies. “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.”
The Utah Attorney General’s Office has “full confidence” in
the judge’s decision, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Boyer said.
The U.S. Supreme Court has at times spared prisoners with
dementia from execution, including an Alabama man in 2019 who had killed a
police officer. If a defendant cannot understand why they are being put to
death, the high court said, then an execution is not carrying out the
retribution that society is seeking.
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