Utah Executes Taberon Honie on August 8, 2024

Taberon Honie, Utah

Updated: Thursday, August 8, 2024

On Thursday, August 8, 2024, Taberon Honie was executed by the state of Utah.  Taberon was pronounced dead at 12:25 am local time, inside the execution chamber at the Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Taberon was 48 years of age.  He was convicted of murdering 49-year-old Claudia Benn on July 9, 1998, in Cedar City, Utah, the tribal headquarters of the Paiute Indian Trips of Utah, of which Claudia was a respected leader.  Taberon spent the last 25 years of his life on Utah’s death row.

Taberon grew up on the Hopi Indian Reservation and attended government board schools that some have labeled as abusive.  Taberon witnessed his parents frequently abusing alcohol.  

In 1995, Taberon Honie and Carol Pikyavit started dating and continued dating for about two years.  During their relationship, they had one child together, a daughter, D.H.  After breaking up, Carol and D.H. moved in with Carol’s mom, Claudia Benn, and Carol’s sister, Benita.  Benita had two preschool-aged daughters, D.R. and T.R.  By 1998, Honie was living with a new girlfriend.

On July 9, 1998, Honie drank heavily and used drugs.  That evening he called Carol several times.  He told her to meet him, threatening her family if she disobeyed.  Carol had received similar threats in the past and was on her way to work when Honie called.  Carol and Benita both left for work around 10:30 pm.  Claudia often watched all three children while their mothers worked.  Honie tried calling at least twice more.  About an hour after the last attempted phone call, Honie called and cab and was dropped off near Claudia’s home.  

Around 12:20 am on July 10, 1998, police arrived at Claudia’s home after receiving an emergency call from a neighbor.  Upon arriving, police saw that the sliding glass door had been smashed with a rock.  They ordered everyone outside of the house.  Honie was seen leaving through the garage.  Police ordered him to come out with his hands up.  Honie’s hands and forearms were covered with blood.  He immediately confessed to murdering Claudia and was arrested.

Inside the house, police found Claudia’s body.  She was partially nude and had stab wounds to her genitals and her throat had been slashed, resulting in her death.  All three children were found to have blood on them.  The oldest, T.R. was also found to be missing her underwear and was bleeding.  She had been sexually assaulted, which Honie admitted to doing.

Honie was tried and found guilty by a jury.  During the trial, he and his attorneys did not deny his guilt. However, he waived his right to jury sentencing, instead allowing the judge to decide his sentence.  Honie was sentenced to death.

Utah had planned to use a new three-drug execution cocktail, which included ketamine, for Honie’s execution.  The mixture of the sedative ketamine, the anesthetic fentanyl, and potassium chloride to stop his heart has never before been used in an execution in the United States.  After Honie’s attorneys filed a lawsuit against the new execution protocol, officials agreed to switch back to a single dose of pentobarbital.  

The Utah Parole Board rejected a request for clemency from Taberon Honie after failing to find “sufficient cause” to halt the execution.  Unlike most other states, the governor of Utah does not have the power to grant clemency.  The decision on clemency belongs only to the Parole Board.  However, Honie asked the governor to delay the execution due to the execution process be “shrouded in secrecy.”  The governor denied his request. 

Pray for peace for the family of Claudia Benn.  Pray for strength for the family of Taberon Honie.