Overview

• The justices voided the Sept. 5 warrant and sent the case back to district court for an updated, independent assessment, pausing the execution.
• Judge Matthew Bates had previously found Menzies competent based largely on evaluations completed about a year earlier.
• Menzies’ lawyers say his progressive vascular dementia has worsened, describing a 67-year-old who uses a wheelchair, relies on oxygen, and is confused about why he faces execution.
• Prosecution and defense experts have issued conflicting opinions on whether Menzies understands his situation, a dispute the lower court must now revisit.
• Menzies chose a firing squad decades ago, a rarely used method last employed in Utah in 2010, as corrections officials say they remain prepared to carry out any future court order.