SALT LAKE CITY — Utah attorneys for convicted murdered Ralph Menzies filed a petition Tuesday saying their client has dementia and his planned execution would be "unconstitutional."
The new petition claims Menzies suffers from cognitive deterioration and that he has not "rational understanding" of why he will be executed.
Menzies was sentenced to death for the 1986 kidnapping and murder of Maurine Hunsaker. Last week, the Utah Attorney General's office filed a warrant for Menzies' execution after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last appeal.
Attorney Eric Zuckerman said tests have confirmed Menzies' cognitive diagnosis. He added that an MRI showed brain atrophy, chronic micro-hemorrhages, and damaged brain tissue.
According to his attorneys, tests were ordered for Menzies after he was injured in frequently falls, and that he now uses a walker. They say “his episodes of confusion, difficulty recalling conversations with others, frequent misplacement of items, and lapses in awareness of his daily schedule on the cell block are all indicative of vascular dementia.”
“Given Ralph’s cognitive deterioration,” said Zuckerman in a statement, “executing him can serve no legitimate purpose of punishment and thus would violate the Constitution.”
Although the Utah Attorney General's Office has filed Menzies' death warrant, no execution is considered imminent.
Menzies is still part of litigation filed by a group of death row inmates challenging Utah's death penalty statutes and methods of execution, lethal injection and firing squad.
