The Utah Department of Corrections is preparing for the Sept. 5 execution of Ralph Leroy Menzies. He would become only the sixth person to be executed by firing squad in the U.S. since 1977.
After spending nearly 40 years on death row, 3rd District Court Judge Matthew Bates signed Menzies’ death warrant on July 9.
In 1986, Menzies abducted Maurine Hunsaker, a 26-year-old mother of three, from the Kearns gas station where she worked. Her body was later found in Big Cottonwood Canyon, tied to a tree with her throat slit. He was convicted of her murder in 1988.
Questions persist over Menzies’ current mental state. Over the last couple of years, his lawyers sought to convince the court that the inmate’s dementia was so severe that he should be spared.
Under both Utah and federal law, a person must be mentally competent to be executed, meaning they must understand why they are dying.
After signing the warrant, Bates set a July 23 date to hear a new competency petition from Menzies’ legal team to decide whether he needs to be evaluated again. His attorneys say his dementia has worsened in recent months, and that he now uses a wheelchair and oxygen tank.
While it’s possible the court could delay or halt the execution, the Department of Corrections is still preparing to carry it out. It would be Utah’s second execution in a little over a year, after Taberon Dave Honie died by lethal injection last August.
While the method is different, Executive Director Jared Garcia said the Department of Corrections’ overall preparations will be similar. It will be carried out in the same room, but instead of lying on a gurney, Menzies would be strapped to a chair.
“We are prepared to carry out this type of execution through a firing squad,” Garcia told reporters on July 14.
The state must assemble the individuals to carry out the execution, which Garcia said they are starting the process of doing. Those people will need to be mentally prepared for the assignment and also skilled with guns, but Garcia said at this time he couldn’t give any more details on how those individuals will be selected and their qualifications.
“I want to make sure that this goes through in a professional and dignified way, and that we do it right,” he said.
Utah is one of only five states that allow firing squads. While lethal injection is now the default in Utah unless the drugs are unavailable, those sentenced to death before May 2004 had the option to choose between lethal injection or firing squad. Troy Kell is also on Utah’s death row and has selected the firing squad.
Of the five firing squad executions carried out in the U.S. since 1977, three were in Utah and the other two were in South Carolina. According to a state-commissioned autopsy, shooters in South Carolina’s April execution of Mikal Deen Mahdi missed his heart, potentially causing “excruciating conscious pain.”
State prison officials in Utah are anticipating increased media attention due to the rare method being used.
The state’s last execution by firing squad in 2010 was carried out by five anonymous volunteers who were certified law enforcement officers armed with .30-caliber rifles. Ronnie Lee Gardner was strapped in a chair with a hood over his head and a target on his heart. The marksmen shot from about 25 feet away behind a ported wall. Four of the guns were loaded with live rounds, and one had a blank.
For Menzies’s execution, prison officials confirmed they also plan to use five .30 caliber firearms, and one will be loaded with a blank. The team will have the same makeup of five anonymous members, as well as a team leader and two alternates.
With the possibility of things changing after the July 23 hearing, Garcia said prison officials are ready to shift course if needed but will keep preparing in the meantime.
