Utah News

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Wednesday set an execution date for a man with dementia who has been on death row for 37 years, even as his lawyers file appeals and argue his condition is worsening.

Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, is set to be executed Sept. 5 for abducting and killing Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker in 1986. When given a choice decades ago, Menzies selected a firing squad as his method of execution. He would become only the sixth U.S. prisoner executed by firing squad since 1977.

Judge Matthew Bates signed the death warrant a month after he ruled Menzies “consistently and rationally” understands why he is facing execution despite recent cognitive decline. Attorneys for Menzies have petitioned the court for a reassessment, but Bates said Wednesday that the pending appeal was not a basis to stop him from setting a date.

Bates did, however, schedule a July 23 hearing to evaluate the new competency petition. Menzies’ attorneys say his dementia has gotten so severe that he uses a wheelchair, is dependent on oxygen and cannot understand his legal case.

“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 U.S. Supreme Court has at times spared prisoners with dementia from execution, including an Alabama man in 2019 who had killed a police officer. If a defendant cannot understand why they are being put to death, the high court said, then an execution is not carrying out the retribution that society is seeking.

For Hunsaker’s son Matt, who was 10 years old when his mother was killed, 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 told the judge Wednesday. “It puts everybody on the clock. We’ve now introduced another generation of my mom, and we still don’t have justice served.”

Hunsaker, 26, was abducted by Menzies from a convenience store where she worked in the Salt Lake City suburb of Kearns. She was later found strangled and her throat cut about 16 miles (25 kilometers) away at a picnic area in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Menzies had Hunsaker’s wallet and several other belongings when he was jailed on unrelated matters. He was convicted of first-degree murder and other crimes in 1988.

Over nearly four decades, attorneys for Menzies filed multiple appeals that delayed his death sentence, which had been scheduled at least twice before it was pushed back. He and other Utah death row inmates sentenced before May 2004 were given a choice between firing squad and lethal injection. For inmates sentenced in the state after that date, lethal injection is the default method unless the drugs are unavailable.

Utah last executed prisoners by firing squad in 2010, and South Carolina used the method on two men this year. Only three other states — Idaho, Mississippi and Oklahoma — allow firing squad executions.

Menzies is among 10 people scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Twenty-five men in the U.S. have died by court-ordered execution so far this year.

With Sen. Mike Lee’s proposed public lands sale proposal excised from the “Big Beautiful Bill” and the Republican leadership likely not revisiting a painful controversy anytime soon, now may be a good time to reflect more deliberately on how some changes to public lands ownership could benefit all public land constituents.

Senator Lee’s rationale for selling public lands was to provide more available land for housing in communities facing unaffordable housing costs. While there are communities in the West where useable public lands are close to housing infrastructure, this is not true to any significant degree in Utah.

I spent the middle part of my career with Utah’s Trust Lands Administration (then called SITLA), with the specific assignment of finding Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands that could be acquired by Utah’s school trust for development, with proceeds going to Utah’s public school endowment.

The pickings near urban areas were sparse. We looked at plat maps everywhere within commuting distance of the Wasatch Front, and found only small, isolated parcels of BLM land that might be suitable for development.

One reason for our lack of success was historic. Unlike many Western states, Utah was settled with a sizable population for 87 years before the Taylor Grazing Act effectively ended homesteading in 1934. Almost every useable parcel of public lands went into private hands, leaving only steep mountainsides in BLM ownership. Forest Service lands along the Wasatch Front were off-limits, but generally also were too steep for development. Even in the St. George area, larger remaining public lands parcels were far from infrastructure, and BLM’s attempts to sell those lands under existing land sales authorities failed.

The reason that we were looking was that Utah’s school trust owns lands with considerable scenic, natural and cultural resource values that almost everyone would agree should not be developed. The obvious solution was to trade natural lands to the federal government for public management, with Utah’s school trust acquiring lands that could be used to generate funds for schools.

There are public lands — including some remaining BLM lands near cities — that do not have notable natural values, and that can be developed for housing, industry and minerals without significant environmental concern. Senator Lee was a strong supporter of SITLA’s land exchange efforts, and a key player in their success. Local and national conservation organizations helped out as well. After 25 years of exchanges, Utah has placed over 600,000 acres of former trust lands into conservation, and released an equivalent amount of public land for development. During the same time period, Utah’s trust land endowments have grown from almost nothing to $3.7 billion, creating a perpetual asset for future generations of Utah students.

The Utah model would work well for most of the other Western states where Senator Lee proposed public land sales. Each of those states has a large professional land management staff, and a portfolio of state trust lands. Each can determine at the state level what pattern of land ownership works best for their state. While there are legal, regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles to large scale federal-state land exchanges that Congress and the current administration need to address, the win-win nature of this approach can avoid the public perception that unilateral land sales are a zero-sum game.

Former Vol Jaden Springer competed in the NBA Summer League Tuesday. Utah defeated Oklahoma City, 86-82, in the Salt Lake City Summer League at Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Springer totaled nine points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists in 17 minutes for the Jazz. He converted 4-of-8 field goal attempts and 1-of-3 three-point attempts.

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Springer was selected by Philadelphia in the first round (No. 28 overall) of the 2021 NBA draft. The former Vol also played for Boston.

He played for the Vols during the 2020-21 season under head coach Rick Barnes.

Springer averaged 12.5 points, 3.5 rebounds rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game for the Vols and was a member of the Southeastern Conference’s All-Freshman Team.

The Charlotte, North Carolina native played high school basketball at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. He was teammates with former Tennessee basketball player Brandon Huntley-Hatfield.

More: Jahmai Mashack plays 23 minutes in Memphis debut

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This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Jaden Springer by the numbers for Utah in NBA Summer League win

Utah remained one of the country’s most expensive housing markets last year even though prices barely budged, according to a new report from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, which was released Tuesday.

The 2024-2025 edition of the Gardner Institute’s “State of the State’s Housing Market” report found Utah was the nation’s ninth costliest housing market last year, citing “high but stable” prices as characterizing the state’s housing market last year.

Despite home prices rising less than 1% since 2022, the high cost is seen as continuing to put home ownership out of reach for many Utahns. Housing affordability is a priority for Gov. Spencer Cox and other state leaders.

“Utah housing prices and rents showed little-to-no growth in 2024,” Jim Wood, the lead author of the report, said in a statement. “Home sales and listings increased, and residential construction declined as apartment developments tumbled.”

Wood, the Ivory-Boyer Senior Fellow at the Gardner Institute, said “slower economic growth presented challenges for Utah’s homebuilding and real estate industries but helped to dampen price increases for potential homebuyers.”

But Utah’s median single-family home sales price of $547,700 trailed what residents are paying in only eight other states in National Association of Realtors data from the fourth quarter of 2024, the report pointed out.

Here’s where that home is even more expensive than Utah:

• Hawaii, $1,012,500
• California, $881,800
• Washington, D.C., $769,300
• Massachusetts, $676,100
• Washington, $669,400
• Colorado, $613,200
• New York, $562,400
• Oregon, $561,300

Utah, the Gardner Institute noted, has steadily climbed in the rankings. Back in 1970, the Beehive State was the 20th most expensive place to buy a house. By 2000, Utah had hit No. 14. In 2022, housing prices hit an all-time high of $510,000, up 44% from 2020.

Other key findings from the Gardner Institute research:

• Homes are “seriously to severely unaffordable” in five large counties, as measured by dividing the median sales price by median household income. Washington and Salt Lake counties are considered severely unaffordable with ratios above 5.1, while Weber, Davis and Utah counties are seriously unaffordable, with ratios between 4.1 and 5.0.
• Rents were also stable in 2024, even declining in some markets. In Salt Lake County, the average rent rose from $1,582 in 2023 to $1,593 in 2024, less than a 1% increase.
• More high-density housing was sold than ever, with the sale of condominiums, townhomes and twin homes accounting for 28% of all residential sales and 28% of residential construction in 2024. The $409,900 median sales price of a condo statewide in 2024 was 27% less than a single-family home.
• The most building permits for residential units, 1,556, were issued in Eagle Mountain. Next was Saratoga Springs, with permits for 1,354 units. Combined with the 1,036 units permitted by the fifth-ranked city, Lehi, the three northern Utah County cities accounted for 18% of all Utah residential building permits in 2024.
• At the same time, less than 22,000 residential units overall received building permits in 2024. That’s the lowest level since 2016, but 90% of the drop was attributed to a decline in apartment development, with permits for apartment units down to 4,801 in 2024 from 7,622 a year earlier.
• Average monthly listings are back to pre-COVID-19 levels, 8,000 to 9,000. Cash buyers bought 6,724 homes in Utah last year, nearly 18% of all homes sold in the state. There were 7% more homes sold in Utah in 2024, a total of 37,641.

So what’s the forecast for the Utah housing market?

“Economic uncertainty and slower rates of demographic and economic growth will lessen housing demand in 2025,” the Gardner Institute said, with residential construction, existing home sales, housing prices and mortgage rates largely staying at the same levels as 2024.

That translates this year to Utah seeing approximately 23,000 new residential units built, 36,900 existing homes sold, the median sales price of a home going up 2%, and mortgage rates staying between 6% and 7%.

One of the “rules” for Summer League is this: If a player got regular run during the NBA season, they should dominate in Summer League. Their game should have risen to the point that they were above this level of summer run.

Case in point: Utah’s Brice Sensabaugh. The former Ohio State forward played 71 games for the Jazz last season, and on Monday night went out and dropped 37 in Utah’s win over Memphis in the Salt Lake Summer League.

Also of note from that game: Utah’s No. 5 pick Ace Bailey looked much more comfortable after a rough first outing. What rookies do in Summer League is more of a measuring stick than anything else, but a good sign is a player who learns and improves over the course of those games. Bailey did that between his first two Summer League games.

EA Sports College Football 26 liked the Utah football team and Devon Dampier, until it didn’t.

That’s what I learned from an informal exercise using the newly released college football video game.

On Monday, College Football 26 — the second edition of the popular game since its revival last summer — was available to play for those who paid for a three-day early release.

That included this sports reporter, who used this early access to see how Dampier, the Utes’ new QB1, “might” fare in his first season at the power conference level.

My first task was to simulate the 2025 season for Utah and track how Dampier and the Utes’ season played out.

Perhaps the simulation was influenced by how Utah finished its 2024 campaign — the Utes lost seven straight after a 4-0 start and ended the year with a 5-7 record. In similar fashion, Utah stumbled in the back half of the simulated season.

There were some promising aspects of the simulation, though.

Key metrics for Devon Dampier in a simulated season on College Football 26

Devon Dampier’s rating in the game: 87 overall.

Passing stats: 240 of 380, 63% completion percentage, 2,610 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, 6 interceptions.

Rushing stats: 119 carries, 179 rushing yards, 3 touchdowns, 1.5 yards per carry.

Season results: 5-7 (3-6 Big 12)

• @ UCLA: W, 26-23 (2OT)
• vs. Cal Poly (FCS West on CFB 26): W, 28-7
• @ Wyoming: L, 12-10
• vs. Texas Tech: W, 13-7
• @ West Virginia: W, 38-17
• vs. No. 25 Arizona State: W, 27-13
• @ No. 7 BYU: L, 22-17
• vs. Colorado: L, 27-24
• vs. Cincinnati: L, 33-28
• @ No. 14 Baylor: L, 38-14
• vs. No. 4 Kansas State: L, 21-14
• @ Kansas: L, 26-20

Big 12 champion: Kansas State.

Big 12 participants in College Football Playoff: Kansas State (No. 4 seed), BYU (No. 8 seed).

Heisman winner: Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State wide receiver.

National champion: Miami. The Hurricanes beat Ohio State in the CFP national championship game.

What stood out

Highlight No. 1: The Utes started the year strong with a come-from-behind, double-overtime win at UCLA. Utah trailed 14-6 going into the fourth quarter, but Dampier found tight end Dallen Bentley for the 12-yard game-winning score in a second extra session in a 26-23 victory.

Dampier outdueled Nico Iamaleava, the Bruins’ new QB1.

Iamaleava completed 12 of 25 passes for 153 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, while Dampier had a better passing line, completing 21 of 28 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns.

Highlight No. 2: Utah built off that early momentum, winning four of its first five games — including a Big 12-opening win over Texas Tech — before hosting defending Big 12 champion Arizona State.

Dampier had his best game of the year against the Sun Devils, sparking Utah to an early lead while the defense prevented Arizona State from rallying.

Dampier completed 67% of his passes against the Sun Devils for 227 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.

His two second-quarter touchdown passes gave Utah a 17-7 halftime lead, and he connected with Tobias Merriweather for a 4-yard touchdown pass with 4:33 to play to make it a two-score game.

Turning point: Unfortunately for Utah, the simulated season ended in a second straight year of not making the postseason — which would be a surprise, considering the buzz surrounding the program with a new offensive scheme in place.

The five-point loss at BYU started the skid (and Utah was ranked in the top 20 at the time), but it was a home loss to Colorado the next week that really shifted the momentum.

The Utes led the Buffaloes 21-0 at halftime but were outscored 27-3 in the second half.

From there, Utah struggled to finish games, even though it only had one loss that came by double-digits.

Positive signs: Last season at New Mexico, Dampier had 12 touchdown passes to go with 12 interceptions.

In the video game, he improved on that TD-to-INT ratio significantly, finishing with 19 touchdowns to six interceptions. Dampier threw for multiple touchdowns in six of the team’s games, including a pair of three-touchdown contests.

He had seven games where he didn’t turn the ball over — Dampier only lost one fumble all year — and he threw for 200 or more yards in nine of the Utes’ 12 games.

Utah was also able to surround him with a couple strong playmakers in running back Wayshawn Parker and Merriweather, transfers from Washington State and California, respectively.

Parker led the Utes with 704 rushing yards and four touchdowns to go with 143 receiving yards and two more scores, while Merriweather had a team-high 60 receptions for 866 yards and five touchdowns.

What seemed wrong: The biggest red flag in this experiment were Dampier’s paltry rushing numbers.

He ran for 1,166 yards and 19 touchdowns at New Mexico last season, but in the simulation, Dampier never had a single 20-yard carry on the year and his per-carry average was just 1.5.

That is well short of the dynamic running ability he’s shown through his first two collegiate seasons. While Dampier is making the leap to the power conference level this season, it would be a major surprise for him to struggle that badly on the ground.

In general, I’d expect some better rushing numbers from Utah with five returning starters on the offensive line — even Parker’s numbers seemed low in what should be a run-friendly offense.

Better rushing numbers could well have been the difference between a win or a loss in several of these games for Utah.

BYU golfer Jackson Mauss fired a 5-under-par 65 at Logan Country Club Monday to take the lead in the stroke-play portion of the Utah State Amateur golf tournament.

Mauss, who will be a sophomore for the Cougars, is a 2022 graduate of Corner Canyon High School. He made eight birdies to go along with three bogeys in compiling the best score among the 156 entrants.

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Half of the golfers played at Logan Country Club and half at the Eagle Mountain Golf Course in Brigham City. Players will switch courses for Tuesday’s second round of stroke play.

Will Pedersen, a 17-year-old from Salt Lake, is one stroke behind after firing a 66 that included five birdies and a bogey.

Bowen Mauss, the younger brother of Jackson, is one of three golfers at 67, along with Weber State golfer Ty Anderson and St. George’s Noah Schone.

Two other BYU golfers, Tyson Shelley, a senior from Salt Lake and Angus Klintworth, a junior from South Africa, are among six golfers at 68.

Among former champions, Dan Horner (2008) and Cole Ogden (2013) fired 69s, Simon Kwon (2023) and Martin Leon (2021) came in at 71, Darrin Overson (1998) shot 73 and Brad Sutterfield (1992) had a 75. Defending champion Cole Ponich is not eligible after turning professional earlier this summer.

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The low 64 golfers will advance to match play beginning Wednesday morning. Matches will continue until Saturday when two golfers will compete in a 36-hole final at Logan CC.

First-round scores (par 70)

• 65 – Jackson Mauss

• 66 – Will Pedersen

• 67 – Bowen Mauss, Noah Schone, Ty Anderson

• 68 – Angus Klintworth, Chase Goetshel, Jacob Marx, Tyson Shelley, Jared McCleary, David Liechty,

• 69 – Andrew Cottle, Devin Andrews, Jackson Shelley, Dan Horner, Cameron Crawford, John Cook, Lucas Schone, Cole Ogden

• 70 – Hunter Nelson, Braydon Griffith, Emery Thomas, Sean Lam, David Timmins, Jacob Randall

• 71 – Simon Kwon, Hayden Howell, Stockton Penman, Tylan Birchell, Martin Leon, Braylon Bingham, Maddox Nielsen