WEST JORDAN, Utah — Condemned killer Ralph Leroy Menzies is facing a competency hearing to determine if he can be executed or not.
On Monday, Menzies was brought to a courtroom for the start of a week long hearing to determine if he is competent enough to be executed. His lawyers argue that Menzies has dementia and therefore his execution would be unconstitutional. Lawyers for the state have contested that.
Menzies was sentenced to death for the 1986 kidnapping and murder of Maurine Hunsaker. In January, the Utah Attorney General's office filed a warrant for Menzies' execution after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last appeal.
"It’s good for him to have to be here," Maurine Hunsaker's son, Matt, told FOX 13 News on Monday.
Asked about his feelings of seeing Menzies in person for the first time in years, Matt Hunsaker said he did not hold any hate.
"I can’t carry hate in my life. It’s a chapter we’ve moved on from, but him being in the courtroom today is a victory for the family. He’s drawn us all here," he said.
Menzies' attorneys are asking a judge to declare him incompetent to face execution. It is a more nuanced legal standard than facing trial, his attorney Eric Zuckerman said.
"Mr. Menzies must understand meaning and purpose, he must understand the link between crime and punishment and he must understand the goal, part of society’s goal is deterrence," Zuckerman told the judge. "Mr. Menzies has vascular dementia. Our experts and the Utah Department of Health & Human Services agree with that diagnosis."
Menzies can appear "fine on a good day and worse on a bad day," his attorney added.
"Even on a good day, he’s still significantly impaired," Zuckerman said.
Multiple experts who have evaluated Menzies are expected to testify on their evaluations of him. The judge was shown MRI scans of Menzies' brain as witnesses testified that he has been diagnosed with vascular dementia.
"Is it accurate to say his brain is literally melting away?" Zuckerman asked Dr. Thomas Hyde, a neurologist.
"It is sadly degenerating," Dr. Hyde replied.
Dr. Erin David Bigler, a clinical psychologist, testified that Menzies has had issues with focusing.
"It diminishes his capacity to use rational understanding and to utilize cognitive function to understand the complexities of what are going on," he said.
Testimony will continue through the rest of the week before 3rd District Judge Matthew Bates makes a decision on whether Menzies can be executed. Matt Hunsaker told FOX 13 News he believes Menzies can be put to death.
"As of right now? Yes. I still believe that justice should be served," he said. "If I have to follow along with the medical expertise that’s there? He may die of whatever’s going on with him medically before we ever get the execution to be followed through with."
