Utah Executes Taberon Honie by Lethal Injection

Описание: Utah has completed its first execution in 14 years.

Early Thursday morning, August 8, Taberon Honie was executed by lethal injection at the Utah State Correctional Facility.

Honie was 48 years old, and had been on death row for more than 25 years.

An execution is a rare event in Utah. The last time the state executed a man was in 2010, when Ronnie Lee Gardner was killed by firing squad.

On the morning of the 7th a small group of protesters gathered outside the Capitol to call for an end to capital punishment in Utah. Later that evening, far outside the prison, protestors gathered in a “free speech zone.”

In July 1998, Honie broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend’s mother, Claudia Benn, and then sexually assaulted and murdered her. He also sexually assaulted a child that was home that evening.

A judge sentenced Honie to death the following year, and he’s been appealing that decision ever since — including several efforts in his final weeks where he asked Utah’s parole board for clemency.

The parole board declined to commute his sentence.

Six other men remain on Utah’s death row.