Utah Supreme Court Stays Ralph Menzies’ Execution After Finding ​“Serious and Significant Questions” About his Competency

In its August 29, 2025 order, the Utah Supreme Court reversed a low­er court denial of Ralph Menzies’ peti­tion for a reeval­u­a­tion of his com­pe­ten­cy — request­ed in light of Mr. Menzies wors­en­ing demen­tia — remand­ed the case for fur­ther pro­ceed­ings and vacat­ed his exe­cu­tion war­rant. Mr. Menzies had been sched­uled to die on September 5, 2025. 

The Utah Supreme Court explained that the dis­trict court had ​“erred in con­clud­ing that Menzies failed to meet his bur­den to reopen his com­pe­ten­cy pro­ceed­ings” when it con­sid­ered not only the evi­dence in favor of reopen­ing the pro­ceed­ings, but also ​“alle­ga­tions and sup­port­ing mate­ri­als,” includ­ing ​“record­ed phone calls” sub­mit­ted by the State in oppo­si­tion to Mr. Menzies’ request. At this stage in the pro­ceed­ings, only evi­dence sup­port­ing a pos­si­ble claim should have been con­sid­ered: based on a review of that evi­dence, the Court said that Mr. Menzies was enti­tled to a competency hearing. 

The Court also said that the expert tes­ti­mo­ny it had reviewed raised ​“seri­ous and sig­nif­i­cant ques­tions about whether Menzies is com­pe­tent to be exe­cut­ed.” Under United States Supreme Court prece­dent, an indi­vid­ual must have a ratio­nal under­stand­ing of the link between his crime and its pun­ish­ment. The Court said state­ments by two experts in the case, Dr. Hyde and Dr. Abrams-Silva, ​“sug­gest that Menzies can no longer under­stand that causal con­nec­tion” and for the dis­trict court to ​“con­clude oth­er­wise at this stage was error.” 

Mr. Menzies was con­vict­ed in the kid­nap­ping and mur­der of Maurine Hunsaker in 1986. His planned exe­cu­tion by fir­ing squad would have been the sixth exe­cu­tion by this method in the United States since 1977, and the fourth in Utah. Utah was the first state to resume exe­cu­tions using the fir­ing squad after the Supreme Court inval­i­dat­ed death penal­ty statutes in 40 states in 1972. Utah is one of two states, the oth­er being South Carolina, that have used this method of exe­cu­tion in the mod­ern death penal­ty era. According to report­ing by the Utah News Dispatch, fir­ing squads in Utah con­sist of five indi­vid­u­als, all of whom are cer­ti­fied offi­cers of the peace. One of the five is cho­sen at ran­dom to shoot a rifle with blanks rounds, and none are aware of who that individual is. 

Jennifer Herron, the eldest daugh­ter of Maurine Hunsaker, oppos­es Mr. Menzies’ exe­cu­tion. She told the Utah News Dispatch, ​“I don’t think it’s fair, and it doesn’t get us any­where. It wasn’t [] right for him to kill. Why should it be right for us to kill?” She con­tin­ued, ​“If we do exe­cute him, we’re not allow­ing our soci­ety to rise above. We’re bet­ter than that.”