From Deseret News archives:
Menzies execution stayed
Judge's order sets the stage for a federal appeal
The stay order by U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart sets the stage for a federal appeal that could keep the convicted kidnapper and killer on death row for years to come.
While not unexpected — the state did not object and Menzies still has a legal right to challenge his conviction at the federal level — the decision also keeps justice at bay for the family of his victim, Maurine Hunsaker.
"I came to ask you to reaffirm to all counsel to get this (case) as a top priority," Hunsaker's eldest son, Matt Hunsaker, told Stewart. "It's taken us 18 years, plus, to get this far. . . . I ask that we not drag our feet in this."
Matt Hunsaker, 28, has been vigilant in reminding judges, attorneys and Menzies himself about the need the family has to see the case resolved. In 3rd District Court last month, Matt Hunsaker implored Judge Leslie Lewis to sign Menzies' death warrant, saying his mother never got to appeal her murder.
Maurine Hunsaker's children were 10, 15 months and 6 months old on the February 1986 night when she was taken from a Kearns gas station and held captive. She called her husband, Michael Hunsaker, at about 11 p.m. that night and told him she had been abducted and robbed but was expecting to be released. Two days later, Maurine Hunsaker, then 26, was found tied to a tree in the Storm Mountain picnic area of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Her throat had been slit.
Police linked Menzies to Maurine Hunsaker's death after they found her identification cards in a room at the Salt Lake County Jail where Menzies had been held after being arrested for an alleged theft.
Menzies was convicted of the kidnapping and killing in 1988, although he has always maintained his innocence. He requested a new trial after it was learned that court transcripts were riddled with errors but was denied by both the state court and the Utah Supreme Court.
Just how fast his appeal will travel through the federal system will depend in part on District Judge Pat Brian.
Brian is set to rule Nov. 6 on whether or not Menzies still has an avenue for appeal in state court. A January 2000 court decision said he did not. Menzies' attorney at the time, Ed Brass, said he intended to challenge that decision.
Brass never filed the appeal and therefore Menzies should still have the right to pursue it, his current attorney, Elizabeth Hunt, argued last month. No defendant should be denied justice for mistakes made by counsel, she said.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Brunker argued against Hunt, saying that the window for such an appeal has closed. Should Brian rule in Menzies' favor next month, it would effectively take the case back to 1995, when the state appeals process first began, he said.
Hunt, who was appointed by Stewart to represent Menzies in federal court, said she will not file any federal motions on Menzies' behalf until after Brian's ruling.
E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com
