A man convicted of abducting, robbing and killing a Salt Lake woman in 1988 is competent to be executed despite suffering from dementia, a judge ruled Friday.

The ruling means that the state can move forward with its plans to execute Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, who has sat on death row for decades.

“Although Menzies has shown he has vascular dementia, he has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that his mental condition prevents him from reaching a rational understanding of his punishment or the state’s reasons for it. Therefore, he has not met his burden to show he is incompetent to be executed,” 3rd District Judge Matthew Bates wrote in a 22-page document.

Menzies was found guilty of murdering 26-year-old Maurine Hunsaker, whose body was found in Big Cottonwood Canyon in 1986, tw

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