On February 13, 2024, the 3rd District Court of Salt Lake City, Utah ruled that evidence presented by Ralph Menzies’ attorneys of his dementia and cognitive decline requires a formal assessment of his competency to face execution by firing squad. With its decision, the court also vacated a hearing scheduled for February 23, at which the state of Utah intended to request an execution warrant for Mr. Menzies. As explained in his request for a competency hearing, Mr. Menzies has been diagnosed with a major neurocognitive disorder known as vascular dementia, severely limiting his “memory, information processing, abstract reasoning, and problem solving.” Prosecutors do not agree with the assertion that Mr. Menzies is not competent for execution, however they do not object to further evaluation of his competency.

“We are relieved that the court agrees the evidence of Ralph Menzies’s dementia requires a competency hearing,” said Lindsey Layer, an attorney for Mr. Menzies. “Ralph’s cognitive functioning has severely declined, leaving him without a rational understanding of why Utah plans to kill him. We are confident the evaluators will recognize that Ralph is not competent to be executed.” 

Following an assessment in January 2024, Lynette M. Abrams-Silva, PhD, ABPP, a board-certified neuropsychologist, wrote that “while Mr. Menzies may have once understood the societal reasons for the sentence of death, cognitive decline due to vascular dementia has broken the mental link between these reasons and the application of the punishment, and he himself is unaware of this disconnection.”

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Citation Guide

Sources

Emily Ashcroft, Judge puts exe­cu­tion process on hold for Ralph Menzies for com­pe­ten­cy eval­u­a­tion, KSL​.com, February 13, 2024; Jeff Tavss, Court orders com­pe­ten­cy eval­u­a­tion for Menzies; exe­cu­tion hear­ing can­celed, Fox13, February 13, 2024.

See Mr. Menzies’ com­pe­ten­cy peti­tion, here.

See the Third District Court’s rul­ing, here.