A Utah judge has set an execution date for a man with dementia who has spent 37 years on death row, despite lawyers’ appeals arguing his worsening condition. Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is scheduled for execution on 5 September for the 1986 abduction and murder of Utah mother-of-three Maurine Hunsaker.

Ralph Menzies' attorneys say his dementia is getting worse, and he now requires full-time care at Utah's prison. A judge on Wednesday signed a death warrant ordering he be executed in September.

Attorneys for Ralph Menzies are requesting another review to determine whether the 67-year-old death row inmate with dementia is competent enough to be executed, arguing that his cognitive decline has worsened in the year since he was last evaluated.