A Utah man who killed his girlfriend’s mother by slitting her throat was put to death by lethal injection early Thursday, the state’s first execution since 2010.
Taberon Dave Honney, 48, was convicted of murder for the July 1998 killing of Claudia Benn.
Honnie was 22 years old when, after a day of heavy drinking and drug use, Ben broke into her home in Cedar City and repeatedly slit her throat and stabbed other parts of her body.
Ben’s grandchildren, including Horney’s then-2-year-old daughter, were in the house at the time.
The judge imposing the death sentence found that Honey had sexually abused one of the children, which was an aggravating factor in reaching the sentence.
According to the Utah Department of Corrections, Horney’s final meal before his execution was a cheeseburger, fries, and a milkshake. Horney spent the night before his execution with his family.
Outside the prison, a group of anti-death penalty demonstrators held signs reading “Every Life Is Precious,” offered prayers and sang “Amazing Grace.”
After decades of failed appeals, Honey’s death warrant was signed in June, despite defense objections to the planned lethal drugs.
In July, the state changed its execution procedure to use only high doses of pentobarbital, a nerve depressant used to euthanize pets.
The Utah Board of Pardons and Paroles denied Honey’s petition to commute his sentence to life in prison after a two-day hearing in July, during which his lawyers argued that his client grew up on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona with parents who abused alcohol and neglected him.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, also rejected Honeghe’s final request for a stay of execution.
Honney told the parole board that if he were “in his right mind” he would not have killed Ben.
He asked the board to recognize his “existence” in order to support his daughter.
Tressa Honee told the commission she had a complicated relationship with her mother and that if her father was executed she would lose her most supportive parent.
But other family members argued Taberon Hony did not deserve mercy.
They said Ben was a member of the Paiute tribe, a substance abuse counselor and a caregiver for his children and grandchildren, and a pillar of his family and the southwestern Utah community.
Ben’s niece, Sarah China Azur, said she was pleased with the commission’s decision to go ahead with Hony’s execution.
“An eye for an eye,” she said.
Honey was one of six people awaiting execution in Utah.
The death sentence of a seventh defendant, Douglas Lovell, who killed a woman to prevent her from testifying in a rape case, was recently overturned by the Utah Supreme Court. He will face a new trial.
A man who his lawyers said was mentally disabled was executed in Texas just hours ago for strangling and attempting to rape a woman as she went jogging near his Houston home more than 27 years ago.
Arthur Lee Burton was on death row for the July 1997 murder of Nancy Adleman, a 48-year-old mother of three. Police found Adleman bludgeoned and strangled with her own shoelace in a wooded area next to a jogging path along the bayou.
