Utah officials deny clemency for man set to be executed for 1998 killing of his girlfriend’s mother
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah officials on Friday refused to grant clemency to a man set to be executed for the stabbing death of his girlfriend’s mother in 1998.
The decision on the fate of Taberon Dave Honie, who will die by lethal injection on Aug. 8, was announced in a one-paragraph message from Scott Stephenson, chairman of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
“After careful review of all the information submitted and consideration of all the arguments of the parties, the Board finds no sufficient grounds to commute Mr. Honie’s death sentence,” Stephenson wrote.
During a two-day hearing, Honie asked the state parole board to commute his sentence to life in prison, saying he would never have killed 49-year-old Claudia Benn after a day of heavy drinking and drug use if he had been in his “sane” state of mind.
Honie said he wanted to live to support his mother and daughter. His lawyers did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment on the decision.
Benn’s family have urged the parole board to carry out his execution, saying they are devastated by their loss.
They described Benn as a pillar of support to their family and the southwestern Utah community: a tribal council member, a substance abuse counselor and a caregiver to her children and grandchildren.
Honie, who had a turbulent relationship with Benn’s daughter, broke into the victim’s home in Cedar City, the tribal headquarters of Utah’s Paiute Indian tribe, on July 9, 1998.
He repeatedly slit her throat and then stabbed her. Benn’s grandchildren, including Honie’s 2-year-old daughter, were in the house at the time.
Honie was convicted of aggravated murder in 1999. The judge who sentenced him to death found that Honie had sexually abused one of the children, one of the aggravating factors used in reaching that decision.
During the hearing, Honie’s attorneys testified about his childhood on the Hopi Indian reservation in Arizona.
His parents, like many Indians, had found themselves in a situation where government boarding schools who were often violent, and the defense argued that they were not taught parenting skills, were heavy drinkers and neglected Honie, who began drinking and using drugs, including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, when he was a teenager.
But the state told the council that Honie caused further trauma by killing Benn.
“Imagine the intergenerational trauma of Honie’s horrific actions that has seeped through time,” said Assistant Attorney General Daniel Boyer.
Not a single execution has been carried out in Utah since Ronnie Lee Gardner was sentenced to death by firing squad in 2010. Honie is one of seven people sentenced to death in the state.
After decades of failed appeals, his execution warrant was signed in June, despite defense objections to the planned combination of the tranquilizer ketamine, the anesthetic fentanyl and potassium chloride to stop his heart. After Honie’s attorneys filed a lawsuit, agreed to switch to pentobarbital.
One of his attorneys said the defense was reviewing information about the amendment and working to protect his constitutional rights.
“There is still significant uncertainty surrounding the state’s last-minute execution plan,” said one of Honie’s attorneys, Eric Zuckerman.
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Slevin reported from Denver and Brown from Billings, Montana.