As a Utah man who slashed the throat of his girlfriend’s mother was being put to death by lethal injection early Thursday, he mouthed one final message to his family members: "I love you."
Taberon Dave Honie was 22 years old when he broke into the Cedar City home of Claudia Benn, the maternal grandmother of his now 27-year-old daughter, Tressa, in July 1998 after a day of heavy drinking and drug use. He repeatedly slashed Benn’s throat and stabbed other parts of her body.
Honie was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death. The judge who sentenced him also found that Honie had sexually abused one of Benn’s other grandchildren who was in the house with a then 2-year-old Tressa at the time of the murder.
Now 48 years old, Honie was strapped to the execution table at the state prison while family members watched from the witness chamber.
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Honie made one final statement before the two doses of lethal pentobarbital were administered.
"From the start it’s been, if it needs to be done for them to heal, let’s do this," Honie said. "If they tell you you can’t change, don’t listen to them. To all my brothers and sisters in here, continue to change. I love you all. Take care."
After the lethal injection was given, he tapped his foot and mouthed "I love you" to his family watching in the chamber.
Honie let out a gasp as the drug flowed through IVs in both arms, and his torso jolted off the table. He then laid still for several minutes before he died, turning a pale shade of blue as his glasses slid back on his forehead.
Honie turned his head to thank correctional officers for taking care of his family before he lost consciousness, warden Bart Mortensen told reporters after the execution.
Honie was pronounced dead at 12:25 a.m. Mountain Time in an execution that went as planned and took about 17 minutes. His last meal was a cheeseburger, french fries and a milkshake, the Utah Department of Corrections said.
The brutal murder drove a wedge between Honie’s immediate family and Benn’s, with several of Benn’s family saying that Honie deserved no mercy despite Tressa’s plea to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole to save her dad.
Honie, who had grown up on the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona, spent the evening with his daughter and other immediate family before the execution. He told Tressa earlier this week that he had come to terms with his fate and hoped she could too, she told The Associated Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
