SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, June 28, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole announced Friday it had accepted death row inmate Taberon Honie’s request for a commutation hearing.
Honie is scheduled for execution Aug. 8 for the horrific killing in 1998 of Claudia Benn, his girlfriend’s mother, in Iron County.
“This pivotal step underscores the Board’s commitment to fairness, justice, and integrity within Utah’s criminal justice system,” said Jennifer Yim, the board’s administrative director, in a press release. The five-member board scheduled the hearing in July, exact date not specified. Their final decision regarding the commutation of Honie’s sentence will be made before the scheduled execution date.
The hearing process involves up to five steps: filing the petition, reviewing the petition, granting or denying a hearing, conducting a hearing, and making the decision to grant or deny the commutation petition.
“At the hearing, the petitioner may present testimony and provide supporting arguments concerning the substantial issues raised in a given petition,” Yim said. “The State may also present testimony and provide arguments against the substantial issues raised in the given petition.”
The board will also provide victims with an opportunity to be heard at the hearing. The hearing will occur before the full board at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City. Notice of the hearing will be posted on bop.utah.gov as well as the State of Utah Public Meeting and Notice website. After the hearing concludes, the board will determine by majority decision whether to grant or deny the commutation petition. In his June 14 petition to the board for the hearing, Honie’s defense counsel said he is expected to testify, along with two Ph.D-holders and two of his relatives.
State prosecutors had objected to the hearing in a long response that centered on the viciousness of the murder with multiple stabbings in front of a relative of the victim and that Honie would have raped the woman but for the fact she was dead.
Utah has not carried out a death sentence since the 2010 firing squad execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner for two homicides.
