Murderer on death row in desperate plea to be spared execution as he has dementia

A murderer on has so severe he does not understand why he is facing execution, his lawyers say.

The attorneys want Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, spared because of his ailing health, which they argue is affecting his cognition to recognise the situation. The man has been on death row since 1988 when he was sentenced for the murder of Maurine Hunsaker, a much-loved mother of three.

But today - 37 years on - Menzies' representatives are set to meet Judge Matthew Bates in a bid to spare the man. If he is deemed competent though, Menzies could be one of the next US prisoners executed by firing squad after the method was used on two South Carolina men in recent weeks, including .

Since 1988, Menzies filed multiple appeals which delayed his death sentence. It had been scheduled at least twice before it was pushed back.

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Medical experts brought in by prosecutors say Menzies still has the mental capacity to understand his plight, but those brought in my the defence have argued against this. The cases presented to Judge Bates today in Utah will be the last opportunities each party has before Judge Bates makes a decision.

The case mirrors one in 2019 in Alabama, which saw the US Supreme Court block the execution of a man with dementia. It was ruled Vernon Madison was protected against execution under a constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Madison, who killed a police officer in 1985, later died in prison in 2020.

In relation to situations like the Menzies case, Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Centre, said: "It's not just about mental illness. It can be also the consequence of brain damage or stroke or dementia — the fundamental question being whether he has a rational understanding of the reasons he is being executed."

More than half of all pris­on­ers sen­tenced to death in the US spend more than 18 years on death row, according to Mr Maher's organisation.

Menzies earlier chose a firing squad as his method of execution. Utah death row inmates sentenced before May 2004 were given a choice between that and lethal injection. For inmates sentenced in the state after that date, lethal injection is the default method of execution unless the drugs are unavailable.

Since 1977, only five prisoners in the US have been executed by firing squad. Three were in Utah, most recently in 2010, and the others in South Carolina, including the execution this year of a .