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USA - Utah. Taberon Dave Honie, 48, Native American, was executed
August 8, 2024: August 8, 2024 - Utah. Taberon Dave Honie, 48, Native American, was executed.
Honie was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead on Thursday, at 12:25 a.m. Mountain Time
Honie was convicted for murdering and raping his ex-girlfriend's mother, 49-year-old Claudia Benn, in 1998.
Taberon Honie was a Native American from the Hopi tribe. The victim, Claudia Marie Benn, was a member of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, and a substance abuse counsellor for the tribe. One of her daughters was Carol Pikyavit, who Honie had dated from approximately 1995 to 1998; Honie and Pikyavit had a daughter together. After breaking up with Honie, Pikyavit moved in with her mother.
Benn was babysitting her three granddaughters on July 9, 1998. Her daughter, Carol Pikyavit, had been living with Benn along with her 2-year-old daughter, whom she shared with Honie, when Honie called.
He was drunk and angry, and at one point, threatened to kill everyone in the home and take their daughter if Pikyavit didn't make time to see him, court records say.
Not taking the threat seriously, Pikyavit left the home and headed to work.
Honie headed to the house and began arguing with Benn. Honie told police that Benn started the fight and was calling him names through a sliding glass door before he snapped, broke through the door and went inside.
Benn attempted to defend herself with a kitchen knife, but Honie overpowered her and attacked her with the knife, slashing her throat four times from ear to ear. Honie said the two of them both tripped while the knife was at Benn’s throat and that she fell on the blade.
In the early hours of the next day, police officers came to Benn's house, responding to a 911 call from one of her neighbors. The responding officers found Benn's partially naked and mutilated corpse, with deep stab wounds to her anus and vagina. They found Honie in Benn's garage, arresting him after he was found with blood residue on his fingertips. During Honie's arrest, he stated, "I stabbed her. I killed her with a knife." The responding officers located Benn's three young granddaughters in the same house, covered in blood. Honie had sexually abused one of Benn's granddaughters immediately following Benn's murder, causing genital injuries.
On May 20, 1999, he was sentenced to death in Iron County.
On June 10, 2024, his execution by lethal injection was scheduled to take place on August 8, 2024, with a new lethal injection cocktail consisting of fentanyl, ketamine, and potassium chloride. Honie filed an appeal challenging the use of the new cocktail as experimental and prone to causing severe and unnecessary pain, instead suggesting the use of a single dose of pentobarbital, which had been used in multiple executions before Honie's. On July 7, 2024, Utah officials decided to use pentobarbital in Honie's execution instead of the new three-drug cocktail. Utah officials ordered three doses of pentobarbital for a total of $200,000 USD, although they only intended to use one five-gram dose in Honie's execution unless there were complications necessitating the use of any of the additional doses.
On June 18, 2024, Honie filed a petition for clemency, mentioning his childhood poverty and neglect. On June 24, 2024, it was reported that Honie's attorney filed several petitioning motions to halt his execution.
Two days before Honie was executed, Honie had a hearing before Utah's parole board to request a reprieve. At the hearing, Honie expressed remorse for Benn's murder and stated, "Yes, I'm a monster. The only thing that kept me going all these years, the only thing I know 100%, this would never happen if I was in my right mind... I make no excuses." The parole board rejected Honie's request.
About a dozen of Benn's family members, including Benn's granddaughter who was also Honie's daughter, planned to attend Honie's execution. Honie's mother also attended the execution. Honie's daughter stated that her maternal grandmother's side of the family largely supported Honie's death sentence and execution, while she did not.
Honie's execution took place at midnight on August 8, 2024.
Honie spoke his last words at 12:03 a.m., reminding others that change is possible.
“From the start it's been, if it needs to be done for them to heal, let's do this," said Honie. "If they tell you you can't change, don't listen to them. To all my brothers and sisters in here, continue to change. I love you all. Take care."
A dose of pentobarbital was administered at 12:04 am MT, and officials administered a second dose at 12:13 am. Honie flatlined at 12:21 am, at which point his family members were permitted to enter the execution chamber and perform a "spiritual ceremony" over his body; afterwards, a medical examiner officially pronounced him dead at 12:25 am.
Media witnesses said when the execution started, it was like watching someone fall asleep.
When a curtain was pulled back in the execution room, Honie was looking up, had an IV in both arms, which were strapped down to a table, said media witness Ben Winslow, a reporter from Fox 13, at a press conference.
Before Honie gave his final words, the warden read the death warrant to him.
Honie looked around the room and began tapping his foot. The witnesses said they weren't sure it was out of nervousness or "just a reaction to what was happening."
He mouthed something to the warden and the director of operations, but witnesses could not hear what he said and then he lifted his head again and took in a "deep exhaling breath and opened his mouth wide."
His breathing then began to accelerate before slowing down. His skin then turned pale and blue, then shortly after, he was pronounced dead.
"We are saddened that despite this change, the State of Utah did not grant him mercy," said his attorneys, Therese Day and Eric Zuckerman, in a statement. "Mr. Honie’s life had value—he was worthy of redemption, and not being judged solely by his worst actions."
His attorneys said he wasn't the same person he was 26 years ago.
"Honie always accepted responsibility for his crimes and expressed deep remorse for his actions, which were committed while he was extremely intoxicated from drugs and alcohol," "Over the past 25 years, Mr. Honie worked on himself to become a better person"
Honie's execution was the first execution to take place in Utah since that of Ronnie Lee Gardner, who died by firing squad in 2010.
Honie becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Utah and the 8th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1977, 12th in the U.S. this year, and the 1,594th overall since the country resumed executions in 1977
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/08/08/taberon-dave-honie-utah-execution/74697293007/ (Source: USA Today, 08/08/2024)
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