Utah death row inmate dies of natural causes after execution was blocked

A Utah man who had his execution blocked after developing dementia during his nearly 40 years on death row died of apparent natural causes, according to the state’s Department of Corrections.

Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, died Wednesday.

The state Supreme Court in August blocked his execution scheduled for Sept. 5 after his attorneys successfully argued that his dementia had become too severe. A new competency hearing to reevaluate his mental state was set for next month.

He was sentenced to die by firing squad for his conviction in the abduction and killing of Maurine Hunsaker, a 26-year-old mother of three, near Salt Lake City in 1986. Menzies was sentenced to death in 1988.

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The victim’s husband, Jim Hunsaker, said he had a “happy feeling” and like a huge weight had been lifted off him when he learned of Menzies’ death.

“I think a lot of it is going to be just healing now,” he told The Associated Press. “I don’t think there was a day that I didn’t think about it.”

He expressed frustration about how the state’s judicial system handled Menzies’ case, saying his family experienced “one disappointment after another” for decades.

“It seems like everything went his way,” he said.

Menzies is one of several U.S. prisoners who have died of natural causes while on death row.

More than half of all U.S. prisoners sentenced to death spend more than 18 years awaiting execution, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The state Supreme Court said over the summer that the progression of Menzies’ disease raised a significant concern about his fitness to be executed. A state medical professional agreed in a mental competency report published this month that Menzies lacked a rational understanding of why he was facing execution.

Those findings came after a state judge ruled he was competent enough to be executed, saying in June that Menzies “consistently and rationally understands” what is happening and why he is facing execution despite his recent cognitive decline, and that his execution would not violate the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments.

Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said he hopes the victim’s family will finally have some closure and peace after Menzies’ death.

“For decades, the state of Utah has pursued justice on her behalf. The path has been long and filled with pain, far more than any victim’s family should ever have to endure,” Brown said.

Menzies abducted Hunsaker from a convenience store where she worked on Feb. 23, 1986, just days after he was released on bail for an unrelated crime. She later called her husband to tell him she had been robbed and kidnapped, but that her abductor planned to release her.

Days later, a hiker found her body at a picnic area about 16 miles away in Big Cottonwood Canyon. She was strangled and had her throat cut.

When he was later jailed on unrelated matters, Menzies had Hunsaker’s wallet and several other items that belonged to her. Police also said Hunsaker’s thumbprint was found in a car that Menzies was driving, and her purse was discovered in his apartment.

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Menzies was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes.

“We’re grateful that Ralph passed naturally and maintained his spiritedness and dignity until the end,” Menzies’ legal team said in a statement.

Menzies selected the firing squad as his method of execution and would have become only the seventh U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1977 — three in Utah, with the last one in the state carried out in 2010, and three in South Carolina this year.

Utah’s last execution of any method was carried out by lethal injection over a year ago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.