Salt Lake City – Lawyers for the man Utah who had in mortal reductions for 37 years tried to convince the State Judge on Wednesday that convicted killer should have been spared by execution because he has dementia.
Ralph Leroy Menzies appeared at the hearing, CBS Salt Lake City Reports Affiliate Kutv.
Rick Egan / Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool
Menzies was sentenced to die in 1988. for murder Muura Hunsaker, mother three. His lawyers said that Dementia from a 67-year-old prisoner was so serious that he could not understand why he faces the execution.
If considered responsible, Menzies could be the next American prisoner executed by shooting the squad after the method was used on two men South Carolina for the last week: Man convicted of murdering parents of former girls in 2001. and the man who was 2004. killed the police officer.
The medical experts who brought prosecutors said Menzies still had the mental ability to understand his situation, while those who brought the Defense said no. MR. Daniel Boyer called on Judge on Wednesday to move forward with the execution.
The hearing was the last in the case of the competence of Menzie. Judge Matthew Bates said he would have a decision in the next 60 days.
Lindsey layer, lawyer Zanzielectors, described how a prisoner often forgets to rebuild medications and can no longer be pricking her laundry because she said, he forgot how washing machines for laundry. She compared his ability to use the tablet on her three-year-old child.
“I imagine that your three-year-old also understands that if he pulled out the cookie tractor, he would answer,” they replied, “there seems to be argued that the understanding of Mr. Menzie his upcoming execution needs more than a three-year-old three-year-old.”
Agreed to a layer.
Menzies is not the first person who got diagnosis of dementia while waiting for the execution.
US Supreme Court in 2019 Blocked a man’s execution with dementia in AlabamaThe ruling Vernon Madison was protected from execution in the constitutional ban from the cruel and unusual punishment. Madison, who killed a police officer in 1985. year, he died in prison 2020. years.
This case followed the previous Judgment of the Supreme Court prohibition of execution of people with a strong mental illness. If the defendant cannot understand why they die, the Supreme Court said, then the execution does not retaliate that society searches.
“It’s not just about mental illness. This can also be the result of brain damage or dementia – the basic question of whether it has a rational understanding of the reason,” said Robin Maher, Executive Director of the Information Center for Death Penalties.
More than half of all prisoners sentenced to death in the US, spend more than 18 years in the death line, according to the organization.
Menzies previously chose shooting composition as their method of execution. Utah Death Prisoners convicted before May 2004. They received a choice between that and deadly injection. For closed closed in the state after that date, the deadly injection is the default method of execution, unless medications are available.
Since 1977. year, only five prisoners in the United States were executed by shooting separation. Three were in Utah, recently in 2010. years, and stayed in South Carolina. Only three other countries – Idaho, Mississippi and Oklahoma – allow the method of execution.
Hunsaker, the 26-year-old marital of three, the kidnappers were menhinous from the gas station in which she worked. Later, the strangled and throat was cut in a picnic area in the chassis mountains of the North Utah. Menzies had a hunter’s wallet and a few other things when he was closed on unrelated matters. He was convicted of murdering the first degree and other crimes.
Over almost four decades, Menzies lawyers filed several complaints that delayed their death penalty, which was scheduled at least twice before pushing back.
Matt Hunsaker, who was 10 when his mother was killed, testified on the Wednesday that he had caused his family emotional turmoil during his way. He expressed gratitude to finally be soon.
“It was incurred for decades,” he said. “Thirty nine years, two months ago and nine days ago, my mom was killed. We miss. We love her.”
Hunsaker said Kutv “the type of emptiness throughout the family. It’s hard to see it’s a short 10 years I’ve had with her and how much amazing and how much I did.”
Gunsaker Baka attended every hearing to her death, advocating for justice for his daughter.
“She was a firm faith that she wanted to disguise him for what he did,” Matt Hunsaker noticed at the station. “In his mind, and in his soul it was necessary to do.”
2025-05-08 11:59:00
