The death line defined for the execution asks for grace

Salt Lake City – Ralph Leroy Menzies lawyers, who is to be suspended on September 5 of the discharge of the squad, argued on Wednesday in an application to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole that grace should be granted to him.

His lawyers quoted the mental health of Menzies, especially dementia, of which they claim that they deteriorated, together with the comments of the judge, who condemned Menzies, and said that he had made a mistake when he had issued the death sentence.

The judge of the third district, Matthew Bates, signed an execution order against Menzies on July 9, 67, after denying an application to stay again and to determine that there are no legal reasons why Menzies should not be executed.

Menzies was found guilty in 1986

The Corrections Department of Corrections in Utah said on Monday that shortly after midnight on September 5, preparations for the execution. The Pardon's board will now decide whether to determine a hearing on the Commission.

“Cruelty disguised as punishment”

In a press release, the lawyers said that the mercy petition “converts in a strong detail, how Mr. Menzies's spirit was overtaken by illness and how several systemic failures make its death sentence unfair and excessive”.

The petition claims that it is confused and no longer understands why Utah tries to kill him. Although his lawyer Eric Zuckerman advised Menzies to sign the petition, he did not understand her or the mercy procedure.

“The Ralph Menzies, which were sentenced to death in 1988, no longer exists. If it now indicates decades later, if he is physically and cognitively affected, does not serve the goals of justice,” argues the petition.

It is said that the execution of someone with dementia is “disguised as a punishment” and would “be a hollow, inhumane spectacle without moral or social value”.

The petition said that the board has not granted any mercy since the death penalty was reinstated and Utah has never carried out someone with dementia.

“If there is ever a case that justifies (grace), this is the case,” it says.

New options

In the mercy petition, judge Raymond Uno, who died last year, said the Menzies initially sentenced to death because he believed that he was too dangerous to detain, but Menzies received no violent violation in prison.

“Mr. Menzies' record for almost 40 years in the death cell confirms that he is a threat to nobody in prison if she administered a lifelong prison sentence,” said his lawyer Lindsey Layer in the explanation.

When he was convicted, there was no option for a kite of life without the possibility of probation; Only life with probation was available. However, it is argued in the application for grace that such a sentence could now be imposed. UN's opinion was also partly based on an injured statement by an informant in the prison house that he had praised himself about the crime.

In a united explanation cited in the petition, UN said that the judgment on life in prison should be reduced without probation, based on incorrect applied law and evidence of mental illnesses of the menzies at that time. The petition said that the judge's declaration from Menzies' record was irrelevant and was not taken into account during the appeal.

After the petition, the former judiciary of the Supreme Court of Court, Christine Durham, who confirmed the death sentence of the Menzies four times, no longer believes that Menzies should be executed. It quoted a decision with which she agreed in the Salt Lake City District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Panel.

In the petition, several cases cite in which the lawyers of Menzies believe that there were problems with the investigation or evidence, such as:

Ultimately, the petition said that Menzies should reduce his punishment on life without the possibility of probation.

“This case would not withstand the control today and not support the ultimate punishment,” argues the petition.

Competence dispute continues

The board of grace of the board of directors is not the only legal step that could have an impact whether the execution of menzies takes place in seven weeks. He recently filed a petition that the district court will take into account, and an appeal to the Supreme Court of Utah.

Menzies is currently asking for Bates to consider whether his mental health has deteriorated considerably in recent months to make him incompetent to be killed. He claims that his mental health has deteriorated even further in the past few months and he now has oxygen.

Bates decided in June that Menzies was competent after the execution process had been put on hold for a year to take into account the earlier competence petition. The new petition is taken into account in a hearing on July 23, in which the judge could put the case on hold.

Menzies also lodged against the decision of Bates in June that he was competent.