Utah killer with dementia is competent enough for death sentence to be carried out, judge rules

A convicted killer in Utah who developed dementia during his time on death row is competent enough to be executed a state judge ruled on Friday Ralph Leroy Menzies was located guilty and sentenced to death in March for the killing of Maurine Hunsaker a -year-old mother of three Judge Matthew Bates declared Menzies consistently and rationally understands what is happening and why he is facing execution despite his up-to-date cognitive decline Menzies has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that his understanding of his specific crime and punishment has fluctuated or declined in a way that offends the Eighth Amendment which prohibits cruel and atypical punishments Bates reported in his court order SUSPECT CHARGED WITH MURDERING ISRAELI EMBASSY STAFF COULD FACE DEATH PENALTYMenzies selected the firing squad as his method of execution and will become only the sixth U S prisoner executed by firing squad since three in Utah with the last one in the state carried out in and two in South Carolina this year The Utah Attorney General s Office is expected to file a death warrant soon Menzies lawyers had argued their client's dementia was so severe that he could not understand why he was being put to death adding that they plan to appeal Friday's ruling to the state Supreme Court COP KILLER DIES AFTER 'BOTCHED' EXECUTION WITNESS IN THE ROOM REVEALS HOW IT HAPPENED Ralph Menzies is a severely brain-damaged wheelchair-bound -year-old man with dementia and crucial memory problems his attorney Lindsey Layer announced in a comment 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 The U S Supreme Court has previously spared death row inmates with dementia from execution including an Alabama man in who was convicted of killing a police officer Since his sentencing years ago Menzies' attorneys have filed multiple appeals that delayed his death sentence which had been scheduled at least twice before it was postponed Menzies had abducted Hunsaker in February from the convenience store where she worked just three days after he was disclosed on bail over an unrelated crime Hunsaker was later uncovered strangled with her throat cut at a picnic area in the Wasatch Mountains of northern Utah When he was later jailed on unrelated matters Menzies had Hunsaker s wallet and several other items that belonged to her He was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes Matt Hunsaker who was years old when his mother was killed mentioned Friday that his family is overwhelmed with emotion to know that justice will at last be served The Associated Press contributed to this analysis