{"id":30535,"date":"2025-07-11T13:25:55","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=30535"},"modified":"2025-07-11T13:25:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T13:25:55","slug":"lawyers-of-death-row-inmate-set-to-die-by-firing-squad-object-for-one-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=30535","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers of death row inmate set to die by firing squad object for one reason"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The lawyers of a death row inmate set to be killed by a gruelling execution method have objected the ruling for one specific reason.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in 1986, Ralph Leroy Menzies abducted 26-year-old Maurine Hunsaker from the Salt Lake City convenience store she worked in at the time.<\/p>\n

Officials later found the mother-of-three had been strangled and her throat cut roughly 15 miles away from the Kearns shop at a picnic area in Big Cottonwood Canyon.<\/p>\n

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Police<\/a> discovered Hunsaker’s wallet and several other belongings on Menzies at the time, leading to the now 67-year-old being convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes<\/a> in 1988 and put on death row<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Menzies selected a firing squad as his method of execution decades ago, but lawyers for the killer have filed multiple appeals that delayed his death sentence.<\/p>\n

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The death row inmate is scheduled to be executed later this year (Getty Stock Photo)<\/cite><\/div>\n

Despite that, a judge in Utah has ordered for Menzies to be killed by firing squad on September 5 this year.<\/p>\n

Menzies’ lawyers claim his dementia<\/a> means he cannot understand his case and that his condition is worsening all the time.<\/p>\n

Both state and federal law in the US<\/a> rules death row inmates must have an understanding of why they are being executed.<\/p>\n

However, Judge Matthew Bates ruled in June that Menzies ‘consistently and rationally’ understands why he is set to be executed despite his apparent health<\/a> decline.<\/p>\n

“Menzies has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that his understanding of his specific crime and punishment has fluctuated or declined in a way that offends the Eighth Amendment,” Bates, who signed Menzies’ death warrant, said.<\/p>\n

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\"Maurine<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Maurine Hunsaker was murdered in 1986 (FindAGrave)<\/cite><\/div>\n

While the decision may have been made, Judge Bates confirmed earlier this week that the competency petition would be looked into on July 23.<\/p>\n

Lindsey Layer, a lawyer for Menzies, said: “We remain hopeful that the courts or the clemency board will recognise the profound inhumanity of executing a man who is experiencing steep cognitive decline and significant memory loss.<\/p>\n

“Taking the life of someone with a terminal illness who is no longer a threat to anyone and whose mind and identity have been overtaken by dementia serves neither justice nor human decency.”<\/p>\n

Hunsaker’s adult son Matt, who was just 10 years old when his mother was killed, feels justice won’t be served unless Menzies is executed.<\/p>\n

He said: “You issue the warrant today, you start a process for our family. It puts everybody on the clock. We’ve now introduced another generation of my mom, and we still don’t have justice served.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Featured Image Credit: FOX 13 News Utah via YouTube<\/cite><\/p>\n

Topics:\u00a0Death Row<\/a>, Utah<\/a>, Crime<\/a>, Dementia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The lawyers of a death row inmate set to be killed by a gruelling execution method have objected the ruling for one specific reason. Back in 1986, Ralph … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30535","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30535"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30538,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30535\/revisions\/30538"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}