Utah | Ralph Menzies incompetent to be executed, report says

WEST JORDAN, Utah — A mental competency report prepared by a psychologist from Utah's Department of Health & Human Services has found that Ralph Leroy Menzies is incompetent to be executed by firing squad.

A copy of the report, filed in West Jordan's 3rd District Court and obtained by FOX 13 News on Friday, declared that Menzies' dementia is so bad that he cannot be restored to any competency to be put to death.

"This condition impacts Mr. Menzies' cognitive abilities such that he is unaware of the crime for which he is convicted, the parameters of the case (e.g., victim's identity, specifics acts he was found to have committed, etc.), the capital nature of the sentence he received, or how the punishment will be carried out," the Utah Department of Health & Human Services' evaluator, Dr. Michael Brooks, wrote.

"He also lacks a rational understanding that he is to be executed for the crime of murder, as he does not understand the State's rationale for levying this punishment in general or to him in particular. It is therefore my opinion that Mr. Menzies is not competent to be executed. Given that there is no effective treatment for his condition, I do not believe he has a substantial probability of restoration to competency."

Menzies' pending firing squad execution was halted by the Utah Supreme Court earlier this year, who ruled that he was entitled to a new evaluation once his attorneys renewed concerns about his mental state. Menzies' legal counsel has argued that to execute him with dementia would violate the U.S. Constitution right against cruel and unusual punishment.

The Utah Attorney General's Office said it had no comment when contacted by FOX 13 News on Friday.

"We are aware of the report and are preparing for the evidentiary hearing in December," Lindsey Layer, an attorney for Menzies, said in an email to FOX 13 News.

Judge Matthew Bates has scheduled another hearing in December where he will review the evaluation and any other evidence on competency.

Menzies was sentenced to die for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker. She was kidnapped from her job at a Kearns convenience store, taken to Big Cottonwood Canyon where she was tied to a tree and her throat was slit.

Matt Hunsaker, Maurine Hunsaker's son, has expressed frustration with the delays in executing Menzies for his crimes. He has also reiterated his belief that there is ample evidence to show Menzies is competent to be executed.

The Utah Attorney General's Office could certainly seek another evaluation and others may already be in the works. Clayton Simms, a criminal defense attorney not connected to the case, told FOX 13 News this is likely not the end.

"The state can challenge this result. They can ask for a different evaluator to look at the evidence," he said.

Judge Matthew Bates has scheduled another hearing in December where he will review the evaluation and any other evidence on competency. But Simms said it may get harder to execute Menzies the longer the court case goes.

"It is more difficult because he’s going to have a natural decline as he ages," Simms said.

Source: FOX 13 News, Ben Winslow, November 21, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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