Family of Utah murder victim wants 'an eye for an eye' as inmate's execution date looms

Family members of a woman slashed and stabbed to death in 1998 pressed Utah officials Tuesday to proceed with next month's scheduled execution of the convicted killer, presenting emotional testimony about a crime they say still traumatizes their close-knit Native American community.

Taberon Dave Honie is asking Utah’s parole board to commute his death sentence to life in prison as an act of mercy so he can remain in the lives of his daughter and granddaughter. He faces a planned lethal injection on Aug 8 for the killing of his girlfriend's mother after a day of heavy drinking and drug use.

A decision is expected in the coming days.

No inmate has been executed in Utah since Ronnie Lee Gardner was put to death by a firing squad in 2010. Honie is one of just seven inmates on death row in the state.

Relatives of the 49-year-old-victim, Claudia Benn, testified toward the end of the two-day hearing in opposition to commuting the death sentence. They described Benn as a pillar in their family and community — a tribal council member, substance abuse counselor and caregiver for her children and grandchildren.

“Taberon, you robbed us,” said her cousin, Betsy China, in addressing the parole board. “Twenty-five years of missing out on her knowledge, her ability to read at a higher level and comprehend and help us.”

Honie, who had a volatile relationship with Benn's daughter, broke into the victim's house in southwestern Utah in Cedar City, the tribal headquarters of the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, on July 9, 1998, repeatedly slashed her throat and then stabbed her in the genital area. Benn's grandchildren — including Honie's then 2-year-old daughter — were in the house at the time.

“You showed such disrespect to a woman, any woman,” China said.

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

Sarah China Azule, who said Benn was her aunt, testified she had found blood all over the house when she entered it.

“She fought for her life. She saved her grandkids, too. That's a strong Paiute woman right there,” Azule testified during the second day of the two-day hearing at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City.

“The way he killed her, that's just sick ... An eye for an eye, as God says it. It's a sad day today,” she said.

On Monday, Honie's attorneys presented testimony describing his childhood trauma, in part from his parents, who abused alcohol. They and others on the Hopi Indian Reservation where he grew up were put into government boarding schools that were often abusive.

Assistant Solicitor General Daniel Boyer said Honie had created more trauma by killing Benn.

“Imagine the intergenerational traumas from Honie's horrific acts trickling down through time," he said.

Boyer said Honie's team offered no evidence to call the death sentence into question or provide any “compelling” reason why he should be shown mercy, such as specific examples of generosity or charity.

However, one of Honie's lawyers, Therese Day, said testimony about how Honie's childhood and substance abuse had an effect on the crime was new. Day said that Honie could continue to be in the lives of his daughter and granddaughter if the board allows him to serve out his sentence in prison.

“He is asking you to allow him to live so that they and the rest of his family do not suffer more than they already have,” she said at the end of the hearing.

Honie told the five-member parole board that he wasn’t in his “right mind” when he killed his Benn. He said he wouldn't hurt anyone if his sentence were to be commuted to life.

He said he never planned to kill Benn and doesn’t remember much about the killing, but acknowledged that the attack made him a “monster.”

“I earned my place in prison. What I’m asking today for this board to consider is ‘Would you allow me to exist?’ ” he said.

Attorneys for the state have described his commutation petition as a “deflection of responsibility that never once acknowledges any of the savage acts he inflicted.”

After decades of failed appeals, his execution warrant was signed last month despite defense objections to the planned lethal drug combination of the sedative ketamine, the anesthetic fentanyl and potassium chloride to stop his heart. Honie’s attorneys sued, and corrections officials agreed to switch to pentobarbital.