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A murderer who has spent 37 years on death row will finally be executedlater this year after a judge ruling, despite his lawyers' appeals this his dementia is so severe he is "no longer a threat to anyone".

Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, brutally killedmuch-loved mother-of-three Maurine Hunsaker in Utah in 1986 after abducting the 26-year-old at a convenience store where she worked in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns. He was convictedin 1988 and at the time chose a firing squad as his method of execution, although multiple appeals have meant his death sentence has been delayed.

Despite suffering with dementia, Judge Matthew Bates ruled Menzies "consistently and rationally" understands why he faces execution, despite recent cognitive decline. The judge set the execution date for September 5 but did also schedule a hearing on July 23 to evaluate the new competency petition

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According to Menzies' attorneys, he now uses a wheelchair, is dependent on oxygen and cannot understand the legal case due to the severity of his dementia. Medical experts brought in by prosecutors say Menzies still has the mental capacity to understand his plight, but those brought in my the defence have argued against this. Judge Bates said on Wednesday that the pending appeal was not a basis to prevent him from setting a date, reports Independent.

"We remain hopeful that the courts or the clemency board will recognize the profound inhumanity of executing a man who is experiencing steep cognitive decline and significant memory loss," said Lindsey Layer, an attorney for Menzies. “Taking the life of someone with a terminal illness who is no longer a threat to anyone and whose mind and identity have been overtaken by dementia serves neither justice nor human decency."

The Utah Attorney General’s Office has “full confidence” in the judge's decision, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Boyer said. The case mirrors one in 2019 in Alabama, which saw the US Supreme Court block the execution of a man with dementia.

In that case, it was ruled Vernon Madison was protected against execution under a constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Madison, who killed a police officer in 1985, later died in prison in 2020.

Ms Hunsaker's son Matt, who was 10 years old when his mother was killed, told the judge on Wednesday that it has been “hard to swallow that it’s taken this long” to get justice. “You issue the warrant today, you start a process for our family,” he said.

“It puts everybody on the clock. We’ve now introduced another generation of my mum, and we still don’t have justice served.”

In relation to situations like the Menzies case, Robin Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Centre, previously said: "It's not just about mental illness. It can be also the consequence of brain damage or stroke or dementia — the fundamental question being whether he has a rational understanding of the reasons he is being executed."

Utah death row inmates sentenced before May 2004 were given a choice between death by firing squad and lethal injection. Menzies chose the former nearly four decades ago but since 1977, only five prisoners in the US have been executed by firing squad. Three were in Utah, most recently in 2010, and the others in South Carolina, including the execution this year of a man who killed an off duty police officer in 2004.