This Week is Utah’s First Criminal Execution in Over a Decade

Utah officials are about to go through with their first criminal execution in almost 15 years as convicted killer Taberon Honie is scheduled for lethal injection on Aug. 8. 

Trevor Myers with our news partners at ABC4 Utah put together an easy-to-understand timeline of the Honie case from the murder of Claudia Benn in 1998 to the pushes from Honie’s lawyers to halt the execution. 

The following is the timeline provided by Myers and ABC4 Utah. 

Timeline of crime, early proceedings 

July 9, 1998 

• Taberon Honie breaks into the home of Claudia Benn, 49, who was the mother of his girlfriend at the time. Honie killed Benn while three of her grandchildren — including Honie’s two-year-old daughter — were in the home. 

May 18, 1999 

• Honie is convicted of the aggravated murder of Claudia Benn. Court documents said Honie was charged with killing Benn while attempting to commit other crimes including object rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual assault, burglary, aggravated burglary, and aggravated child sex abuse. 

May 24, 1999 

• Honie is sentenced to death. He had previously waived the right to a jury for the penalty phase of the court proceedings. 

Here’s where it gets complicated. 25 years later in 2024, Honie’s death warrant was officially signed on June 10, and a legal battle ensued regarding the combination of drugs being used in the cocktail. 

The following is the timeline provided by Myers and ABC4 Utah. 

Timeline of recent proceedings 

March 2023 

• Honie and four other death row inmates file a lawsuit to overturn Utah’s death penalty, calling it “cruel and unusual punishment.” 

Dec. 22, 2023 

• A judge in Utah’s 3rd District dismisses the lawsuit attempting to overturn the death penalty in Utah, which was filed by the five death row inmates. 

May 1, 2024 

• After Honie exhausted all available appeals, the Utah Attorney General’s Office signs the state’s application for the execution of Taberon Dave Honie. 

June 7, 2024 

• The Utah Department of Corrections identifies a drug combination to be used in the execution of Honie: Ketamine, fentanyl, and potassium chloride. Officials in Utah later changed the drug for Honie’s execution to pentobarbital. 

June 10, 2024 

• A judge signs the execution warrant for Honie, declaring he is to be executed by lethal injection on Aug. 8. The warrant said, in part, “no legal reason exists against execution of the judgment of death,” after acknowledging that Honie’s previous appeals had been denied. 

June 28, 2024 

• The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole announces it has granted a commutation hearing for Honie. 

July 2, 2024 

• The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole sets the date for a commutation hearing for Honie, to consider whether his sentence will be reduced to life in prison rather than the death penalty. 

July 8, 2024 

• The Utah Supreme Court denies Honie’s request for extraordinary relief. Honie filed the request after the judge signed the death warrant on June 10. The Supreme Court said Honie had “not demonstrated that the district court abused its discretion.” 

July 20, 2024 

• Utah officials revise the drugs to be used in the execution of Honie — switching from the previously untested combination of ketamine, fentanyl, and potassium chloride to the drug pentobarbital. Pentobarbital has been used in executions in several other states. 

July 22, 2024 

• The commutation hearing for Honie begins. At the hearing, Honie speaks, in addition to his mother, his daughter, and his counsel. Honie told the board he did not plan to kill Benn and said he would not have done so if he were in his “right mind.” 

July 23, 2024 

• The family of Claudia Benn speaks at Honie’s commutation hearing. Benn’s relatives recalled her strong presence in their family and called for “an eye for an eye.” 

July 26, 2024 

• Following two days of deliberation, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole declines to downgrade Honie’s sentence to life in prison. A press release from the UBPP said, in part, that “the Board does not find sufficient cause to commute Mr. Honie’s death sentence.” 

July 30, 2024 

• A Utah judge declines to put any further obstacles ahead of Honie’s execution, ruling that the Utah Department of Corrections has not violated Honie’s rights, but has provided more information and consideration than required. 

Thank you to Trevor Myers and ABC4 Utah for the excellent summary of the events. Again, Taberon Honie is scheduled for execution via lethal injection on Thursday, Aug. 8.