Death warrant hearing set in firing squad execution for convicted murderer Ralph Menzies
By Michelle Poe
KUTV
A hearing is now set whether convicted murderer Ralph Menzies will be executed by firing squad this year.
Judge Matthew Bates set the death warrant application hearing for Friday, Feb. 23 at 2pm. Menzies must appear in person before Judge Bates, where the judge will question Menzies himself.
In his order, Judge Bates said the Department of Corrections must transport Menzies to the hearing and that, “The order shall authorize the Department to use any means of force reasonably necessary to compel Mr. Menzies to attend that hearing.”
If the judge does not find reason to delay the sentence further, he will set an execution date and sign the warrant. The execution cannot be set any sooner than 30 days or no later than 60 days from the hearing date.
Menzies kidnapped Maurine Hunsaker from a gas station in February 1986. He took her to an area near Storm Mountain in Big Cottonwood Canyon where she was tied to a tree, strangled and her throat slit. Menzies was convicted in 1988 and sentenced to death. When asked by the judge how he would prefer to die Menzies said, “shoot me.”
Menzies has appealed his conviction over the last 36 years. He ran out of appeals late last year when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear his case.
An attorney for Maurine Hunsaker’s family filed a petition with the court objecting to any further delays in the case.
The attorney, Heidi Nestel, argues against giving Menzies time to respond to the application for a death warrant. Menzies has asked for extra time to do so. In her filing Ms. Nestel says, “Enough is enough.” She quotes from Utah’s Victims’ Rights Amendment which says, “The victim of a crime has the right to a speedy disposition of the charges free from unwarranted delay.”
She pointed out that the family has been waiting for over 35 years for the sentence to be carried out.
Judge Bates however is giving Menzies a change to respond. He said any response must be filed by Feb. 7 and the state may file a reply to that by Feb. 16.
https://kjzz.com/news/local/convicte...-supreme-court
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