‘It’s not right to kill him’: Maurine Hunsaker’s oldest daughter opposes Menzies’ execution

HOLLADAY — One of Jennifer Herron’s first memories from her childhood was when she was 9 and she watched the news on the day Maurine Hunsaker’s body was found.

“I did not understand why at the time, but my adoptive mom sat me down in front of the TV to watch the news coverage of the murder,” she said.

Several years later, when Herron turned 16, she learned that Hunsaker was actually her birth mother who had placed her for adoption at birth.

“There was a time I thought I hated Mr. Menzies,” Herron admitted.

Today, however, despite kidnapping and brutally murdering her birth mother and taking away the chance for Herron to meet or ever have a relationship with her, Herron does not believe Ralph Leroy Menzies should receive the death penalty.

“I don’t hate him. I hate what he did. I don’t know him. I hate his actions that caused a lot of pain and a lot of suffering to a lot of people,” Herron said. “It wasn’t right when he killed my mother. It’s not right to kill him. We need to break the cycle.”

On Sunday, Herron was one of several speakers invited to Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 1375 Spring Lane, by groups opposed to the death penalty. Organizers have several events planned this week in an effort to get their message across that they are opposed to Menzies’ scheduled execution by firing squad on Sept. 5 and want the death penalty to be abolished overall.

“It’s not humane. And it’s been so much time, there will never be justice in that case, ever. It’s been too long,” the soft-spoken Herron said Sunday. “I’m tired of being drug through the pain.”

Even though Herron did not know her mother, she says her death has greatly impacted her over the past four decades.

Herron did not speak at Menzies’ commutation hearing last week but did submit a letter to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.

“Although I may not be recognized by the legal system as a direct victim due to being adopted, the rippling effects of this crime have profoundly affected my life,” she wrote to the board. “This loss has been a constant presence in my life, affecting me in ways that are hard to fully describe.

“While I recognize the severity of the crime that was committed, I do not believe that justice will be served by taking another life. I have experienced firsthand the consequences of a life being taken, and I cannot support a system that perpetuates this cycle of violence,” her letter continues. “Ultimately, I’m not seeing revenge or retribution; I want to find a way to move forward from this tragedy.”

‘You don’t get closure’

Randy Gardner, the older brother of Ronnie Lee Gardner — the last man to be executed by firing squad in Utah in 2010 — also spoke Sunday against the death penalty.

“You don’t get closure. I’m never going to get closure with my brother. There is no closure to the family,” he said while also showing the audience a small bottle containing his brother’s ashes that he always carries with him.

Neither Gardner nor Herron believe Menzies is a threat to anyone at this point.

“He has dementia. He’s in a wheelchair. He’s hooked up to oxygen full time. To remove him from the wheelchair he’s bound to, put him in an execution chair — and it looks like they’re going to use the same one they used on my brother — take the oxygen from his nose, put a hood over his head, pin a white heart on his chest and have five executioners at a certain count shoot this disabled (man), I think it’s a terrible thing for Utah to do,” Gardner said.

Abe Bonowitz, who used to support the death penalty but now heads the nonprofit group Death Penalty Action and goes around the country helping those opposed to executions organize locally, concurred that Hunsaker’s family will not get the closure they’re seeking after nearly 40 years.

Bonowitz called it a “false promise that execution is going to help them heal or do anything to change the situation. Because there will always be that empty chair at the table when the family gathers. No amount of killing is going to bring our loved ones back.”

Michelle Beasley, the local coordinator for Utahns Against the Death Penalty, says mercy, compassion and forgiveness should be the topics of discussion, not executing Menzies.

“I don’t think mercy should be off the table. I don’t think forgiveness should be off the table. It’s done really well historically. Why do we have to give it up now?” she asked. “I recognize there are victims on all sides of this issue. And murdering somebody is not going to make it any better. It’s not going to heal things. It’s not going to bring Maurine Hunsaker back.”

A family on different sides

Herron says she got to know her half-siblings after she learned that Hunsaker was her birth mother, and got to know her better from their stories. But she says they have since grown distant and are no longer in communication.

And while Maurine Hunsaker’s son, Matt Hunsaker, and his siblings have been outspoken about being in favor of Menzies’ execution, Herron says she is tired of getting Google alerts every day, every time Maurine Hunsaker’s or Menzies’ names appear in a news article.

“I would just like to find a way to move forward from this tragedy without any more violence. We need to break that cycle,” she said. “I don’t want to care about (Menzies) anymore.”

Related: Utah’s history of execution by firing squad