Utah judge sets execution date for 67-year-old Ralph Menzies with dementia on September 5th.

A Utah judge has set the execution date for Ralph Leroy Menzies, a 67-year-old man with dementia, for September 5th. Menzies was convicted in 1988 for the abduction and killing of Utah mother Maurine Hunsaker in 1986. Despite his severe dementia and his lawyers' petitions for a competency reassessment, Judge Matthew Bates ruled that Menzies understands the reason for his execution. Menzies chose to be executed by firing squad, making him the sixth U.S. prisoner to be executed this way since 1977. A hearing to evaluate his competency petition is scheduled for July 23.