The attorney for convicted killer Ralph Menzies filed a request for a stay of execution in U.S. District Court Friday.
The petition foreshadows a federal appeal of Menzies' conviction, which could delay his execution by as much as four years.
Menzies is set to die by firing squad on Nov. 10 for the 1986 kidnapping and murder of Maurine Hunsaker, who was working as a clerk at a gas station in Kearns.
Those convicted of capital offenses have multiple avenues for appeal, including an automatic appeal to the Utah Supreme Court. An appeal to federal court can only be made after all other state court-level appeals are exhausted.
Because he is still entitled to a federal appeal, Menzies will likely be granted a stay, which would cancel the execution at the Utah State Prison.
A death warrant for Menzies, 45, was signed Sept. 11 by 3rd District Court Judge Leslie Lewis after state prosecutors argued that Menzies had exhausted his avenues for appeal in state court. His attorney, Elizabeth Hunt, sought a stay from the Utah Supreme Court, but the high court rejected that request Oct. 8.
The petition has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart, but a hearing date had not been set Friday afternoon. Menzies also is asking the federal court to appoint him an attorney to handle his federal appeal.
Hunsaker's mother, Betty Sudweeks, said Friday night that the family had expected a federal court challenge from Menzies. Nevertheless, she said, they were "more than disappointed" with the news as they have waited some 17 years for justice.
"My big problem with this is that none of this has to do with guilt or innocence," she said. "It would be different if there was some shred of evidence that he might not be guilty."
Hunsaker said she is mostly sorry for her three grandchildren, who are Hunsaker's children. Matt, Nick and Dana Hunsaker were 10, 18 months and 5 months old respectively when their mother was killed, she said.
"They are the real victims in this," Sudweeks said.
Hunsaker was kidnapped Feb. 23, 1986, from the Gas-N-Mat in Kearns. Her body was found two days later in the Storm Mountain picnic area of Big Cottonwood Canyon. Her throat had been slit.
Salt Lake County Sheriff's deputies linked Menzies to the crime after some of Hunsaker's identification cards were found inside a room in the county jail where Menzies had been after being booked for theft.
He was convicted of kidnapping and killing Hunsaker in March 1986.
Menzies also is scheduled to appear in 3rd District Court Nov. 6, when Judge Pat Brian is expected to rule on a request to overturn a January 2000 ruling which rejected a challenge of his conviction.
The matter was never resolved because Menzies' previous attorney, Ed Brass, filed court documents to begin an appeal, but never completed the process.
E-mail: jdobneri@desnews.com