SALT LAKE CITY – The state of Utah executed Taberon Dave Honie by lethal injection shortly after midnight Thursday, 25 years after he was found guilty of brutally killing his ex-girlfriend’s mother in front of her three granddaughters.
The announcement was made at 12:30 p.m.
Honie, 48, spent most of Wednesday meeting with his family members one last time, telling them to “keep their heads up.”
According to staff members who attended Honie’s farewell, there were “a lot of emotions and tears,” but he still managed to crack a few jokes, said Glen Mills, spokesman for the Utah Department of Corrections.
From about 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Honie met with family members who visited him in pairs for safety reasons, starting with his mother and father. He also met his daughter, three sisters, two cousins, a brother-in-law and an aunt, Mills said. Honie and his visitors are separated by a window. Mills says Honie spent most of the day sitting on the floor of his room talking, but at 8:22 p.m. he went to his bed to sit on it. The family visits ended at 9 p.m.
Further visits were made to the prison governor and there were four assessments by psychiatric staff. His mood throughout the day was described by prison staff as “friendly and grateful”.
After visiting with his family, Honie listened to music on a tablet for about seven minutes until his lawyers arrived, Mills said. From 9 to 10 p.m., Honie met with his lawyers. Mills said the conversation was “lighthearted,” according to staff. After his lawyers left, Honie “just laid on his bed with his tablet and listened to music,” Mills said at 10:30 p.m. He was offered a Valium, but he declined. Honie will be alone in the observation cell from about 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., when prison staff begin preparing him for transfer to the execution chamber.
Honie was moved from his regular jail cell to an observation cell next to the execution chamber at about 6:10 a.m. Wednesday. He then slept until about 8:15 a.m. and ate a breakfast sandwich shortly after 8:30 a.m., Mills said.
Honie spoke on the phone with a spiritual advisor on the Hopi reservation and mostly prayed, Mills said.
The last meal he ordered – a cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake – was delivered around 4:30 p.m., but Mills said Honie wanted the administration to know that he had informed the public that his last meal was a recent meal he ate with his family in prison.
Brian Redd, executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections, thanked members of the media for attending Wednesday and said he wants his agency to be “known as a transparent and accountable organization.” He spoke about the challenges of creating a free speech zone during executions that balances the security of the prison and people’s right to express their opinions. One of the challenges, he said, is that most of the land around the prison is private property and there are few roads leading in or out of the prison.
Honie, who has been on death row since 1999, was found guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend’s mother, 49-year-old Claudia Marie Benn, in Cedar City on July 9, 1998, in front of her three granddaughters.
It was the first execution at the new Utah State Correctional Facility, which officially opened in July 2022, and the first in the state in 14 years.
The prison was placed on lockdown in preparation for the execution on Wednesday and will remain on lockdown until 6 a.m. Thursday. Roadblocks have been set up on all access roads to the facility, which is located west of Salt Lake City International Airport.
“We really want to emphasize that we do this effectively, humanely and professionally,” Mills said during a 6:30 p.m. update, adding that staff will do one final “run-through” of what to expect tonight at 7 p.m., in addition to the seven they’ve already conducted. A “run-through” involves practicing bringing a person of roughly the same height and weight into the execution chamber and sticking a needle in their arm, both as a willing participant and with resistance, Mills said.
Mills admits that with the execution looming this week, there was a different mood among prison officials and staff.
“This is not something that anyone involved in this looks forward to or takes any pleasure in. However, all of us in the department see this as our responsibility, we take it seriously and we intend to carry it out in a caring and professional manner,” he said.
The execution chamber is 25 feet by 37 feet. There are separate witness rooms, both with reflective glass to protect the identity of witnesses. The windows are also bulletproof “to protect witnesses from accidental ricochets if a firing squad is used,” according to the department. Honie is scheduled to be killed by lethal injection.
After Honie is strapped to a stretcher in the room, two people come in and start an IV. These two then leave the room and two other people administer the injection. These people are in a separate room and are not seen by witnesses or Honie to protect their identities.
The two individuals selected will be “trained according to accepted medical practices to administer intravenous injections. They will each administer one continuous intravenous injection, one of which will be a lethal amount of sodium thiopental or another substance equally or more potent and sufficient to cause death. Based on the recommendation of medical professionals, the medication used will be pentobarbital,” the Utah Department of Corrections said in a statement.
Before the lethal injection begins, Honie will have the opportunity to say his last words while strapped to the stretcher. After the injection, a doctor will be brought into the chamber to confirm his death.
Prison officials are not disclosing their identities but say those involved in the lethal injection are not employees of the Ministry of Health or the Department of Correctional Health Services.
After his death is confirmed, Mills said the prison will honor Honie’s wish to have his family in the room and perform a brief spiritual ceremony before his body is removed. Likewise, prison officials have allowed him to hold a pipe ceremony with a relative on Monday, he said.
Honie can select up to five people to witness his execution. They can be a religious official, a friend or a relative. Mills says Honie has selected four family members and his attorney. The identities of the family members will be released after the execution. Seven relatives of Benn will also attend the execution. Their identities will not be released until after the execution is complete. Seven media representatives, all from Utah, have been selected as witnesses, including KSL.com.
Other witnesses include Iron County police officers, an Iron County prosecutor, a representative from the Utah Attorney General’s Office and up to three correctional officers.
After his death, Honie’s body will be turned over to the Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office. Once the examination is complete, Honie’s remains will be disposed of according to his wishes, which have not yet been announced.
This story will be updated.
correction: Two people will be standing by to administer pentobarbital. If one dose doesn’t kill him, the second person will administer another dose. An earlier version incorrectly stated that the two would not know who was administering the pentobarbital.
