Menzies is competent to be executed, judge rules

SALT LAKE CITY — A judge has ruled that condemned killer Ralph Leroy Menzies is competent to be executed.

In a ruling handed down late Friday, 3rd District Court Judge Matthew Bates declared that while Menzies has dementia, he is competent enough to understand what is happening and to be put to death.

"Having considered the evidence presented at the hearing and the arguments of the parties, the Court concludes that Menzies has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that he is incompetent to be executed," Judge Bates wrote in the order.

The ruling is a significant step in a case that has been going since 1988, when Maurine Hunsaker was kidnapped from her job at a convenience store in Kearns. She was tied to a tree in Big Cottonwood Canyon and her throat was slit.

"We are pleased t