‘An eye for an eye’: Victim’s family makes their case for executing Taberon Honie

Death row inmate Taberon Honie leaves for a recess during the Utah Board of Pardons commutation hearing Tuesday, July 23, 2024, at the Utah State Correctional Facility, in Salt Lake City. (Pool photo by Rick Bowmer/AP)

For 26 years, Benita Yracheta has been waiting for Taberon Honie to die.

Honie murdered and sexually assaulted Yracheta’s mother, Claudia Benn, in 1998 while her three grandchildren were inside the home. During court proceedings, Honie also admitted to sexually assaulting one of the children. On Aug. 8, he’s scheduled to be executed by lethal injection.

“Every time I think of my mom, I think of the aftermath of the crime scene,” said Yracheta on Tuesday, the second day of Honie’s commutation hearing, where the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole heard arguments for and against going through with the execution.

“I’ve waited for this day to come for the last 26 years,” she said.

Just after midnight on Aug. 8, the Utah Department of Corrections plans to execute Honie using a single dose of pentobarbital, which has been used in federal executions and is authorized in at least 10 states. Honie has tried, and failed, to appeal his sentence multiple times over the years, and this week’s commutation hearing is one of his final attempts to avoid the death penalty.

A death row inmate’s plea: ‘Would you allow me to exist?’

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole does have the ability to grant clemency, which means Honie would spend the rest of his life in prison rather than face execution. Similar to a trial, attorneys representing both the state of Utah and Honie argued their case on Tuesday — the board is now deliberating, though it may be another week before a decision is announced.

While Monday was mostly reserved for testimony against executing Honie, including a plea from the death row inmate himself , the witnesses Tuesday, who included Benn’s family, struck a much different tone, recalling the gruesome, decadesold crime that changed their lives.

That includes Yracheta, who lamented the fact that she can’t pick up phone to call her mother; Benn’s cousin, who told the board that the murder impacted the entire Paiute tribe, which Benn was a member of; Benn’s niece, who was so devastated by the murder that she “became the worst alcoholic” in the years following; and another niece, who accused Honie of sowing division in their family.

“Where could we have been if she had survived?” asked Betsy China, Benn’s cousin. “We could have accelerated as a tribe, individuals and family, but it was torn apart that dreadful day.”

China, like the rest of Benn’s family members who spoke on Tuesday, urged the board to deny Honie’s request for clemency.

“You have been provided 25 years of incarceration. And you want more. But personally, I think we should just close the book. Taberon, you admitted you were wrong. And I’m proud that you did that. I’m glad that you got knowledge while you’re here,” China said, before telling the board: “The best thing for me, my choice, would be the death penalty. Let’s get this over.”

“An eye for an eye,” added Sarah China, Benn’s niece, who asked the board to “ make the right decision, please.”

Benn’s relatives on Tuesday tried to dissect Honie’s testimony from the day before, where he stressed accountability and claimed, several times, that he wasn’t there to make excuses — yet often he would follow by telling the board the crime wouldn’t have happened if he weren’t so intoxicated.

“I know what a blackout is,” said Sarah China. “You do black out, but you know what you’re doing at the same time. You know what crime you’re doing … you can’t give that excuse that you didn’t know what you did.”

“You are the only one in this room who knows what fully happened. You’re the only one that knows exactly what you did. You’re the only one who knows whether my auntie was still alive when she was brutally sexually assaulted,” said Trevia Wall, also Benn’s niece.

The gruesome nature of the crime was also a focus during the hearing Monday, with Sarah China describing the moment almost 26 years ago when she “busted” through the door to find blood stains throughout Benn’s home.

“(It was) all over the damn house,” China said. “She fought for her life. She saved her grandkids, too. That’s a strong Paiute woman right there.”

Though it was described in detail during witness testimony, Daniel Boyer with the Utah Attorney General’s Office said the pictures from the crime scene were too horrific to show.

“That speaks volumes about the viciousness of this murder,” Boyer said. “The absence of those photos today may very well speak louder than the photos themselves.”

‘Mercy’ or ‘justice’?

The hearing ended on Tuesday much like a trial, with both sides arguing their case. For more than an hour, Boyer described the lasting impact the murder had on not only Benn’s family, but the broader Paiute community, while pushing back on some of the witness testimony from the day before.

Most of the evidence presented Monday, meant to underscore the trauma and life circumstances that may have led to Honie’s violent behavior — poverty, lack of resources and addiction — is not new, Boyer said, and have been considered by courts for years.

“He’s had 24 years of litigation challenging his death sentence. His challenges have been reviewed and rejected by both the state and federal courts,” Boyer said.

He pushed back on Honie’s claim that the crime was a result of intoxication, pointing to the fact that he was lucid enough to take a taxi to Benn’s home; he refuted the argument that intergenerational trauma (Honie is a member of the Hopi tribe) played a role, reading a letter from the Paiute tribal government that accused him of “opening historic wounds that cannot heal”; and he said there are no “new or compelling” facts that would warrant clemency.

“Honie deserved death then and nothing has changed,” Boyer said.

Meanwhile, Honie’s attorney Therese Day told the board her client has spent the last two decades rehabilitating, reiterating much of the testimony from Monday — that alcoholism, addiction, poverty, neglect, brain injuries and a lack of positive role models molded Honie.

Her client believes he deserves some kind of punishment for the murder, she said, just not the death penalty.

“This request is something he has struggled with because he believes he is deserving of nothing,” she said. “He’s not asking to be let out of prison, nor does he think he deserves it.”

Instead, Honie wants to avoid execution so he can continue to better himself and others in prison, where she described him as a positive and trusted role model among other inmates — and so he can support his daughter and granddaughter, who have suffered enough because of his crimes. Honie’s death would only make that burden worse, she said.

“Even those who commit terrible crimes are worthy of mercy and grace if they are truly remorseful for their acts, accept responsibility and accept punishment. Mr. Honie has always expressed genuine remorse and sadness for his crimes against Ms. Benn and her grandchildren,” Day said.

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