A man facing execution next month for the murder of his girlfriend’s mother has pleaded with state officials to spare his life, stating that he is not the same person he was at the time of the crime, which occurred after a day of drinking and drug use.
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Taberon Dave Honie addressed the Utah parole board, asserting that he never intended to kill 49-year-old Claudia Benn and does not remember much of the incident, which took place while Benn’s three grandchildren, including Honie’s 2-year-old daughter, were in her home. He claimed that he would not have committed the crime if he had been in his “right mind.”
“I earned my place in prison. What I’m asking today for this board to consider is ‘Would you allow me to exist?’,” Honie stated during the first day of a two-day hearing at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City.
Honie expressed his desire to be there for his mother and his daughter, who is recovering from substance abuse, but acknowledged the profound impact of his actions on his daughter’s family.
Honie’s daughter, Tressa Honie, also spoke to the board. She shared that her father’s actions had deprived her of both her grandmother and her father, but noted his efforts to support her now. She described the painful position of being caught between the two sides of her family.
“There’s noise everywhere,” she said.
State attorneys have urged the board to deny Honie’s request for a lesser sentence.
Utah Board of Pardons & Parole Chairman Scott Stephenson stated that a decision would be made “as soon as practical” after the parole board hearing.
This hearing follows state officials' decision to switch from an untested combination of execution drugs, which Honie’s lawyers argued could cause “excruciating pain,” to the single drug pentobarbital, used in other states and federal executions.
If carried out on August 8, this would be Utah's first execution since Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad in 2010, according to the state Department of Corrections.
During the hearing, the defense presented testimony about Honie’s traumatic childhood on the Hopi Indian Reservation, where his parents and others were removed from their homes and placed in government boarding schools. Clinical psychologist Victoria Reynolds described how both of Honie’s parents had severe alcohol problems and fought in front of their children, with his mother once threatening to shoot herself.
Honie, exposed to alcohol in utero, began drinking regularly at around 12 and also used drugs like marijuana and cocaine, Reynolds said.
“These outcomes are larger than just Mr. Honie,” she explained.
Honie's lawyers argue that his traumatic and violent childhood, coupled with his long-term substance abuse, a previous brain injury, and extreme intoxication, influenced his behavior when he broke into Benn's house and killed her following what they described as “a domestic dispute.”
State attorneys, however, contended that this characterization minimized the brutality of the attack and pointed out that Honie had expressed an intention to kill Benn hours before the incident.
Honie’s lawyers claim he received poor legal advice, which led to his sentencing by a judge instead of a jury that might have shown more sympathy and spared him the death penalty.
“Mr. Honie has always expressed genuine remorse and sadness ... from the moment he was arrested,” they wrote in his commutation petition. They argued that Honie, who has a grown daughter, is “worthy of mercy.”
However, state attorneys pointed out that the judge who sentenced Honie had already considered his remorse, difficult upbringing, and intoxicated state at the time of the murder. Honie, then 22, broke into Benn's house while she was home with her grandchildren, severely beat her, and slashed her with a knife, according to court documents.
Police found Honie covered in blood when they arrived at the scene.
“Honie says the board should show him mercy because he has taken responsibility for killing Claudia,” the state's lawyers wrote. “The commutation petition itself is a long deflection of responsibility that never once acknowledges any of the savage acts he inflicted on Claudia or her granddaughters.”
Honie was convicted of aggravated murder in 1999. After decades of unsuccessful appeals, his execution warrant was signed last month, despite defense objections to the original planned lethal drug combination. Following a lawsuit from Honie's attorneys, corrections officials agreed to switch to pentobarbital.
Although pentobarbital has been used in federal executions, there is evidence that it can also cause extreme pain, as seen in some executions carried out during the last months of Donald Trump’s presidency.
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