SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 30, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah Supreme Court on Friday halted next week’s scheduled execution of Ralph Leroy Menzies, ruling that new evidence of the death row inmate’s worsening dementia requires further review of his competency.
Menzies, 68, was convicted in 1988 of kidnapping and killing Maurine Hunsaker, a Kearns mother of three. He has spent decades on death row at the Utah State Prison and was set to die Sept. 5 by firing squad after exhausting earlier appeals.
In a unanimous 5-0 decision, the justices said recent medical evaluations raised “a significant question” about whether Menzies still has a rational understanding of the reason for his execution — a constitutional requirement under U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
“Mr. Menzies’s vascular dementia and its progressive effects call into question whether he remains competent to be executed,” Chief Justice Matthew Durrant wrote for the court. “The law dictates that if Menzies makes a prima facie showing of a substantial change of circumstances, a district court must reevaluate his competency, even though it may cause additional delay.”
Lower courts had previously determined Menzies was competent despite an undisputed dementia diagnosis, but two neurologists recently concluded his condition has deteriorated to the point that he no longer understands why he faces execution.
The ruling sends the case back to a Salt Lake County judge for new proceedings and indefinitely halts what would have been Utah’s first firing squad execution in more than a decade.
The justices acknowledged the decision prolongs the anguish of Hunsaker’s family, who have waited nearly four decades for the sentence to be carried out. “It is not our desire to prolong that suffering,” Durrant wrote. “But we are bound by the rule of law.”
The Utah Department of Corrections said in a statement Friday night 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.
Gephardt Daily will update this story as more information becomes available.
