Related video: Ralph Menzies must appear in court for competency hearing

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The commutation hearing for Ralph Menzies, an inmate on death row for nearly four decades, began on Wednesday.

Menzies was convicted in 1988 for the 1986 aggravated murder, kidnapping, and robbery of Maurine Hunsaker. Menzies' attorneys cite “significant decline” in cognitive function and are asking the board for "mercy" to allow Menzies to pass away with his terminal illness and not be executed by a firing squad.

"The question is whether he will die by his disease or his terminal illness," the defense attorneys said Wednesday morning. "He (Menzies) is tied to a wheelchair, an oxygen tank and is no threat to the prisoners at the facility."

They continued their argument saying, "We are not a

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