A Utah state court has scheduled the execution of Ralph Leroy Menzies for 5 September, selecting a five-member firing squad after the 67-year-old inmate chose that method decades ago. Judge Matthew Bates signed the death warrant on Wednesday, concluding that Menzies "consistently and rationally" understands the reason for his sentence despite cognitive decline. Menzies was convicted in 1988 of abducting and killing 26-year-old Maurine Hunsaker, a mother of three, in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns in 1986. He has spent 37 years on death row and would become only the sixth U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad since capital punishment resumed in 1977. Utah last used the method in 2010; only four other states currently authorize it if lethal-injection drugs are unavailable. Defense attorneys argue that advancing dementia has left Menzies dependent on a wheelchair and oxygen, claiming he can no longer grasp his legal situation. Bates scheduled a separate competency hearing for 23 July to consider new medical evidence, but said the pending petition was not sufficient grounds to delay issuing the warrant. Appeals remain before the Utah Supreme Court, and a clemency bid is expected. According to court filings, at least 10 executions are slated nationwide for the remainder of 2025. Twenty-five men have been executed in the United States so far this year, as states increasingly revisit alternative methods amid shortages of lethal-injection drugs.