A death row inmate put to death for the brutal murder of his ex-girlfriend's mom gave haunting final words during his execution.
Utah death row inmate Taberon Honie was executed for the 1998 slashing of his ex-girlfriend's mother on Thursday. Honie, who branded himself 'a monster' , had asked the 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 had he been in his “right mind.”
Benn’s family urged the parole board to allow him to be executed , saying they have been devastated by their loss. They described Benn as a pillar in their family and southwestern Utah community — a tribal member, substance abuse counselor, and caregiver for her children and grandchildren.
He died by lethal injection on Thursday, August 8 just after midnight 25 years after he was sentenced to die. His execution makes him the eighth person to be executed in Utah since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.
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Honie was pronounced dead at 12:25 a.m. Mountain Time was an execution that went as planned and took about 17 minutes. He tapped his foot and looked around a few times after he was given the lethal injection of two doses of pentobarbital.
He gasped once as the drug flowed through IVs in both arms, and his torso jolted off the table. Honie laid still for several minutes before he died and his glasses slid back on his forehead.
His final words were, "From the start it's been, if it needs to be done for them to heal, let's do this. 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."
Honie was 22 when he broke into Benn's house in Cedar City after a day of heavy drinking and drug use and repeatedly slashed her throat and stabbed her in other parts of her body. Benn's grandchildren, including Honie's then 2-year-old daughter, were in the house at the time.
Honie's last meal before his execution was a cheeseburger, french fries and a milkshake, Utah Department of Corrections said. Honie spent the evening with his family before the execution.
Outside the prison, a group of anti-death penalty protesters held signs that said, "All life is precious" and prayed and sang "Amazing Grace."
After decades of failed appeals, Honie's execution warrant was signed in June despite defense objections to the planned lethal drug. In July, the state changed its execution protocol to using only a high dose of pentobarbital - the nervous system suppressant used to euthanize pets.
The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole denied Honie's petition to commute his sentence to life in prison after a two-day hearing in July during which Honie's attorneys said he grew up on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona with parents who abused alcohol and neglected him.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, also denied a final request by Honie to delay the execution. Honie told the parole board he wouldn't have killed Benn if he had been in his "right mind." He asked the board to allow him "to exist" so he could be a support for his daughter.
Tressa Honie told the board she has a complicated relationship with her mother and would lose her most supportive parental figure if her father were to be executed. However, other family members argued that Taberon Honie deserved no mercy.
Honie was one of six people facing execution in Utah. The death sentence for a seventh person, Douglas Lovell, who killed a woman to keep her from testifying against him in a rape case, was recently overturned by the Utah Supreme Court. He will be resentenced.
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