Utah officials deny clemency for man set to be executed for 1998 killing of his girlfriend’s mother

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah officials denied clemency Friday to a man who is set to be executed for the stabbing death of his girlfriend’s mother in 1998.

The decision regarding the fate of Taberon Dave Honie, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection Aug. 8, was announced in a one-paragraph notice from Scott Stephenson, chair of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.

“After carefully reviewing all submitted information and considering all arguments from the parties, the Board does not find sufficient cause to commute Mr. Honie’s death sentence,” Stephenson wrote.

During a two-day commutation hearing this week, Honie 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.”

Honie told the board he wanted to continue to live to be a support for his mother and his daughter. After the ruling his attorneys expressed sadness and disappointment, saying their client is no longer the same person and is demonstrating in prison that he can live a nonviolent life.

“What has remained the same is Mr. Honie’s sincere remorse and acceptance of responsibility for the crimes he committed,” lawyer Therese Day said in a statement. “Even those who commit terrible crimes are worthy of mercy and grace if they are truly remorseful for their acts.”

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.

Honie, who had a volatile relationship with Benn’s daughter, broke into the victim’s house in Cedar City, the tribal headquarters of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, on July 9, 1998.

He repeatedly slashed her throat and then stabbed her. Benn’s grandchildren, including Honie’s 2-year-old daughter, were in the house at the time.

Honie was convicted in 1999 of aggravated murder. The judge who sentenced him to death found that Honie had sexually abused one of the children, one of the aggravating factors used to reach that decision.

Sarah China Azule, Benn’s niece, learned of the board's decision while driving from Utah to Arizona for the funeral of her own niece, who disappeared and was found dead two years later. She told The Associated Press she cried a mix of happy and sad tears all the way.

“We've been waiting for this day for 26 years,” Azule said. “I now know that if you fight for your family, justice will be served. And I'm so happy that we got this decision and the board chose us, not the rest of his life to be lived in prison. He deserves an eye for an eye.”

However Azule also said her heart aches for Honie's daughter, who testified in favor of commutation. Tressa Honie told the parole board of her complicated relationship with her mother and said she will lose her most supportive parental figure when her father is executed.

“Twenty-six years ago I was robbed of a grandmother ... and he also robbed me of himself,” Honie said. “My father is there for me however he can be.”

Randall Benn, the victim's nephew, said he often drives Tressa Honie to work and has tried to support her while also coping with the immense pain of losing his aunt. Now, decades later, he can finally focus on healing.

“I've been waiting for this day for a while now, because I deserve my aunt getting the justice that she needed,” he told AP. “It's like a chapter ended, like my aunt is resting good now.”

During the hearing, Honie’s attorneys presented testimony describing his traumatic childhood growing up on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona.

His parents, like many Native Americans, had been put into government boarding schools that were often abusive, and the defense argued that they did not learn parenting skills, were heavy drinkers and neglected Honie, who began drinking and using drugs including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine by the time he was a teenager.

But the state told the board that Honie created more trauma by killing Benn.

“Imagine the intergenerational traumas from Honie’s horrific acts trickling down through time,” Assistant Solicitor General Daniel Boyer said.

Utah has not had an execution since Ronnie Lee Gardner was put to death by firing squad in 2010.

Honie is one of six people awaiting execution in the state. 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 overturned Thursday by the Utah Supreme Court. He will be resentenced.

After decades of failed appeals, Honie's execution warrant was signed in June despite defense objections to the planned combination of the sedative ketamine, the anesthetic fentanyl and potassium chloride to stop his heart. When Honie’s attorneys sued, corrections officials agreed to switch to pentobarbital, but the case is still pending.

Eric Zuckerman, another of Honie’s attorneys, said previously that “serious uncertainty still remains about the state’s last-minute execution plan.”

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Slevin reported from Denver and Brown from Billings, Montana.