State seeks warrant for execution by firing squad after Ralph Menzies ruled competent
Jun 9, 2025, 4:13 PM | Updated: 4:19 pm
Jasmine North, Federal Public Defender Mitigation Investigator, speaks with Ralph Leroy Menzies, during his competency hearing in Third District Court in West Jordan, on Monday, Nov 18, 2024. (Rick Egan//The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
(Rick Egan//The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool)
SALT LAKE CITY — The prosecution in a Utah capital murder case is trying to obtain an execution warrant — and as of last week they’ve cleared nearly every hurdle needed to do so, at least for now.
After Ralph Menzies, 67, was ruled competent to be executed, despite his developing dementia, the state filed a motion on Monday requesting his execution proceedings resume. They were halted due to the defense’s questions of Menzies’ competency in 2024, stating he no longer understood why he was to be put to death.
After a year of competency evaluations and multiple reports written, a 3rd District Court judge ruled based on the assessments that Menzies was mentally capable enough to understand his sentence, meaning his case could proceed.
Recap of Menzies case
Menzies was convicted of the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker in 1988, when his execution process began. Hunsaker was abducted while working at a gas station in Kearns, and called to tell her husband she had been kidnapped, but believed she would be set free. Two days later, Hunsaker’s body was found tied to a tree.
The execution process initially began in 1988 after Menzies’ conviction, and underwent many hurdles, exhausting all his appeals.
On Monday, the state requested the court schedule another hearing to review its application for an execution warrant. The application was filed in January 2024, and requests the method of execution be the initial method Menzies chose: by firing squad.
If approved, Menzies’ execution would be the first firing squad execution since 2010.
