Utah State Board of Pardons and Paroles grants hearing on commutation of sentence for death row inmate

SALT LAKE CITY — A man facing a death sentence in Utah later this summer will receive a commutation hearing next month, fulfilling a request he made after signing his execution warrant earlier this month.

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole announced Friday that it has approved a commutation hearing for Taberon Honie, to be held sometime in July. Honie, 48, of Cedar City, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 8 after being convicted in 2002 of sexually abusing and murdering his ex-girlfriend’s mother, Claudia Benn, in 1998 in front of her three grandchildren.

“This critical step underscores the board’s commitment to fairness, justice and integrity in Utah’s criminal justice system,” said Jennifer Yim, administrative director of the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, in a statement.

A Utah judge signed an execution warrant on June 10 after several appeals and rulings against the sentence over the past two decades. Unless his sentence is commuted, Honie will be the first person to be executed using the state’s new lethal injection, which consists of ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride.

However, Honie and his lawyers filed a 45-page motion on June 18 to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

In it, they argue that Honie “always accepted responsibility and expressed remorse” for his actions, adding that “Honie’s traumatic past, brain damage, long-term drug abuse and extreme intoxication influenced his behavior at the time of the crime.”

The exact date of the hearing has not yet been set, but the five-member pardon board will make the final decision on whether Honie faces life in prison or execution.

Yim explained that Honie and his lawyers will be allowed to present witness testimony and “supporting arguments” why his sentence should be changed, while the state will be allowed to make the same arguments if it opposes the measure. Victims will also be given the opportunity to speak at the hearing.

“The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole remains committed to promoting a process grounded in procedural fairness and accountability, while ensuring that every decision reflects these core principles,” she said.

Next month’s hearing will be the state’s first commutation hearing since a request was made by Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. The board ultimately denied Gardner’s request. He was then executed by firing squad on June 18, 2010. That was the last time an execution was carried out in Utah to date.