Death row inmate Ralph Menzies to face competency hearing
Nov 18, 2024, 5:30 AM | Updated: 10:07 am
Menzies, on Utah’s death row since 1988, will be in the courtroom. The hearing is to determine if he’s still competent enough to face execution. (Ralph Menzies attorney)
(Ralph Menzies attorney)
SALT LAKE CITY — On Monday, death row inmate Ralph Menzies will be in court for a competency hearing.
Menzies, on Utah’s death row since 1988, will be in the courtroom. The hearing is to determine if he’s still competent enough to face execution.
Earlier this year, attorneys for Menzies filed a petition saying he has dementia and no longer understands what being executed would mean.
Menzies was convicted of killing Maurine Hunsaker in 1986. Her son Matt was only ten years old at the time. Now many years later, Matt Hunsaker’s hope just feels exhausted.
What this means for the family of the victim
Hunsaker told KSL’s Talking Cold podcast; he doesn’t believe Menzies will ever be executed for his crime. He believes Menzies will die of old age.
If found incompetent, the court still has to determine whether restoring Menzies’s competency is possible. And if not, what will need to be done with him.
Other families in similar situations to Hunsaker have told him that he should think hard about the long term aspect. That while getting justice for a loved one is the intent, the reality is a lifetime sentence for the family.
“You can go sit in a five-hour hearing, and you’re never going to hear your loved one’s name. You’re not gonna hear one word. You’re gonna hear about his rights, his living conditions, his access to a his attorney, how he’s not getting to go play in the yard, how much interaction he has with other inmates.”
Looking ahead
So as for reaching out to get judges and the media to pay attention, Hunsaker said he’s done. But he isn’t giving up on the memory of his mother.
“I will always honor my mom until the day I’m not able to walk. I will go there. Clean her headstone off, take her flowers. She’s a great woman … I know she loved me,” said Hunsaker. “I know she loved me a lot and getting to where I am today, was really worrisome of whether or not I did everything that I could to honor my mom and stick by the 10 and a half short years that I had with her .. Making sure everybody knows she was an amazing woman and she was robbed from us, and from this world.”
Related:
- PODCAST: In Utah, the death penalty can be a life sentence for victims’ families
- Who are Utah’s other death-row prisoners awaiting execution?
- Another twist in Utah’s most high-profile death penalty case
