Opinion: Does the state of Utah deserve to kill?

In 2021, Utah was on the verge of joining nearly half the other states and most of the world in banning capital punishment. Then just weeks ago, for only the eighth time in the last 48 years and the first time since 2010, a man woke up one day to be dead the next because the state of Utah chose to have him executed.

Given what we know today about capital punishment, none of us should be comfortable when the state of Utah, in all our names, decides to kill as a form of punishment.

Back in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court banned capital punishment. The Court recognized that the punishment was plagued by flaws. It was arbitrarily imposed, had little if any proven deterrent value, was costly and was infected with race and class bias.

Four years later, the Court reversed course. But every reason cited in 1972 for banning the punishment remains true today. The only difference is that we now have considerably more evidence.

That Utah spent $200,000 to secure the drugs used to execute Mr. Honie is but one example of the cost to taxpayers. One report found that a death penalty trial costs eight times as much as a similar trial where death is not a possible result .

We often hear that the death penalty is needed as a deterrent. There is no evidence that is true. Over the years, as states have abolished the death penalty across the country, they have done so with no resulting impact on their murder rates . Conversely, after the federal government executed 13 people in the final months of 2020 into 2021 (after executing only three people between 1976 and 2019), the national murder rate went up . Admittedly, there is likely no direct correlation, but all those executions didn’t deter anyone, either.

Death penalty proponents will point to victims, but we know even that claim has its limits. A therapist who works with victims’ family members in Florida has said , “More often than not, families of murder victims do not experience the relief they expected to feel at the execution. Taking a life doesn’t fill that void, but it’s generally not until after the execution that families realize this.”

Sharon Wright Weeks, whose family members were killed in one of Utah’s most notorious crimes, said waiting for one of the defendants to be executed — as opposed receiving a life sentence — has been “ absolutely torture .”

Former Rep. Lowry Snow , who led the push to end the death penalty a few years ago, said that “Utah is very prone to a recognition that there can be redemption” in everyone. He made these statements in the context of the need to eliminate extreme punishments for children who commit crimes. Our state responded by pursuing a path towards mercy by abolishing life without parole for our children.

But the death penalty continues to exist. Maybe some of us believed we could keep it on the books but not have to face its horrors. That all changed on August 8.

Please do not mistake what I am saying: Mr. Honie’s crime was horrific, and punishment was deserved. However, do not make the mistake of thinking that what was done to him will do anything to make our state and our communities safer.

We can never change what Taberon Honie did when he killed Claudia Marie Benn, and we can never change what the state of Utah did when it killed Taberon Honie. We can seize upon the reality that the death penalty is fully operational in Utah and work to change our laws. We can insist that we don’t ask only if a person deserves to die for a crime; we must also ask whether the state, in all our names, deserves to kill. We should all use our voices in whatever way we can to see that the answer is no.

Ben Miller lives in Salt Lake City. He has been a criminal defense attorney for over 15 years and practices throughout Utah.