The Brennan Center for Justice released its January edition of State Court Report, identifying several state Supreme Court cases scheduled for oral arguments this month that address major constitutional and civil rights issues across the country.
Ralph Menzies, who is scheduled to be executed by firing squad in September 2025, has submitted a clemency petition to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, citing his irreversible vascular dementia and a crumbling foundation of flawed trial proceedings, false testimony, prosecutorial misconduct, and ineffective legal representation.
A Utah judge ruled that Ralph Leroy Menzies, who has spent nearly 40 years on death row and was recently diagnosed with dementia, is still competent to be executed for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, despite his cognitive decline.
The Utah Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court’s ruling vacating the conviction and death sentence of Douglas Carter due to extensive constitutional violations during his 1985 trial.