The Utah Attorney General’s Office wants to put the new competency proceedings for death row inmate Ralph Leroy Menzies on the fast track.

But Menzies’ attorneys say the state is already jumping the gun.

Last week, the Utah Supreme Court vacated Menzies’ death warrant — just one week before his scheduled execution by firing squad — ruling that the district court erred by not allowing him a new competency hearing.

On Wednesday, the attorney general’s office filed a motion in 3rd District Court “for expedited competency proceedings” and requested that one of their two experts be allowed to examine Menzies in person next week and the other during the first week of October.

Menzies’ attorneys, however, say the district court doesn’t have the authority to do that yet.

“This court present

See Full Page