A Utah judge has set an August date for the execution of Taberon Dave Honie, convicted in the 1998 killing of Claudia Benn. He is to be executed on August 8th, making it Utah’s first public execution since 2010. Defense attorneys expressed concerns about a new lethal injection drug combination. Honie’s lawyer, Eric Zuckerman, argued that the state only informed the defense about the drugs on Friday, leaving little time to assess them. Two of the three proposed drugs have been used before, but a third, ketamine, is novel.
Dan Bokovoy, an attorney for the Department of Corrections, stated that the law did not require the agency to update protocols. Daniel Boyer from the Utah Attorney General’s office argued that Honie had exhausted his appeal options and the judge’s duty was to sign off on the execution and set a date. Judge Jeffrey Wilcox ultimately sided with the state, stating that there was no legal reason to further delay the sentence. Wilcox requested that information about the administration of the drugs be provided to Honie as soon as possible.
Taberon Dave Honie was convicted of aggravated murder for killing Claudia Benn, who was home with her grandchildren when Honie broke into her house. Honie cut Benn’s throat four times before being covered in blood when police arrived. Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, seven people have been executed in Utah, with Honie slated to be the eighth. His failed appeals included arguments about his mental illness and substance abuse not being raised during sentencing.
The execution will take place at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City. Despite the concerns raised by Honie’s defense team, the judge ruled that there was no legal basis for delaying the execution further. The defense had asked for more time to assess the novel drug combination proposed for Honie’s lethal injection. However, the judge determined that prisoners do not have a due process right to receive details about their execution protocol, but requested that Honie be provided with information about the drug administration process.
Honie’s attorney had argued that more time was needed to consult with medical experts and assess the drug combination. The state’s position was that the protocols did not need to be updated and that Honie had exhausted his appeal options. The judge ultimately sided with the state, setting the execution date for August. Despite the concerns raised by the defense team, Honie is set to be executed for the murder of Claudia Benn in 1998.
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