Utah death row inmate dies of natural causes after execution was blocked over dementia
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A Utah man whose execution was blocked after contracting dementia while on death row for nearly 40 years has died of apparent natural causes, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.
Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, passed away on Wednesday.
The state Supreme Court in August blocked his execution, scheduled for Sept. 5, after his lawyers successfully argued that his dementia had become so severe. A new competency hearing to re-evaluate his mental state has been scheduled for next month.
He was sentenced to be executed by firing squad for his conviction in the 1986 kidnapping and murder of Maurine Hunsaker, a 26-year-old mother of three near Salt Lake City. Menzies was sentenced to death in 1988.
DEMENTIATED UTAH MURDER IS QUALIFIED TO REVIEW DEATH SENTENCE, JUDGES RULES.
Ralph Menzies, convicted of murdering Maurine Hunsaker, attends a commutation hearing at Utah State Prison in Salt Lake City on August 15, 2025. (AP)
The victim’s husband, Jim Hunsaker, said he felt a “happy feeling” when he learned of Menzies’ death and it was as if a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders.
“I think a lot of this will start to heal now,” he told The Associated Press. “I don’t think there’s a day that goes by that I don’t think about it.”
He expressed frustration with the way the state’s judicial system handled Menzies’ case, saying his family had suffered “one disappointment after another” for decades.
“Everything seems to have gone well,” he said.
Menzies is one of several US prisoners who died of natural causes on death row.
More than half of U.S. inmates on death row are awaiting execution for more than 18 years, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
The state Supreme Court said over the summer that the progression of Menzies’ disease raised significant concerns about his eligibility for execution. A state medical examiner agreed in a mental competency report released this month that Menzies lacked a rational understanding of why he faced execution.
Ralph Leroy Menzies appeared in Third District Court for a competency hearing on November 18, 2024, in West Jordan, Utah. (AP)
Those findings came after a state judge ruled Menzies was competent enough to be executed in June, saying Menzies had a “coherent and rational understanding” of what was happening and why he faced execution despite his recent cognitive decline, and that his execution would not violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said he hopes the victim’s family can finally find some closure and peace after Menzies’ death.
“For decades, the state of Utah has been pursuing justice in his name. The road is long and full of pain—far more than any victim’s family would ever have to endure,” Brown said. he said.
Menzies abducted Hunsaker from a convenience store where he worked on February 23, 1986, a few days after he was released on bail for an unrelated crime. She later called her husband and told him that she had been robbed and kidnapped, but that her kidnapper planned to release her.
Days later, a hiker found her body, strangled and her throat slit, about 26 miles away at a picnic area in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
When he was later jailed for unrelated reasons, Menzies had Hunsaker’s wallet and several other items belonging to him. Police also said Hunsaker’s fingerprints were found on the car Menzies was driving and her purse was found in Menzies’ apartment.
SOUTH CAROLINA TRIPLE KILLER WILL BE THE third man to die by shooting at a squad in the state this year
A chair sits in the execution chamber of the Utah State Penitentiary on June 18, 2010. (via Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune, AP, Pool, File)
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Menzies was convicted first degree murder and other crimes.
“We are grateful that Ralph passed naturally and maintained his vitality and dignity until the end,” Menzies’ legal team said in a statement. he said.
Menzies chose firing squad as his method of execution and would be only the seventh US prisoner to be executed by firing squad since the US reinstated the death penalty in 1977 – three were executed in Utah, the last in the state in 2010, and three in South Carolina this year.
The last use of any method in Utah was by lethal injection a year ago.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
