
(ConservativeSense.com) – A death row prisoner made a last-ditch attempt to save his life this past week and asked a parole board for mercy. However, his request was denied.
In the request, lawyers representing Taberon Dave Honie in Utah portrayed their client’s extremely traumatic childhood, marred by violence and alcohol addiction. They told the Utah Board of Pardons & Parole Chairman Scott Stephenson that Honie, who grew up on the Hopi Indian Reservation, began drinking heavily at age 12 to escape a tumultuous and violent home where he lived with two alcoholic parents.
The convicted killer also spoke on his own behalf and said he was not in his “right mind” when he murdered his girlfriend’s mother, Claudia Benn, in 1998. Honie admitted to the crime during the parole board hearing but said, “It wasn’t me.”
Benn’s family, however, said they feel no mercy for the killer. Betsy China, the victim’s cousin, said her family was “robbed” by Honie, who took away 25 years they could have spent with their relative. Sarah China Azule, the victim’s niece, testified about the moment she entered Benn’s house and found parts of it covered in blood. She urged the parole board to carry out Honie’s execution, saying, “An eye for an eye.”
On Friday, July 26, Utah Board of Pardons and Parole Chair Scott Stephenson released a notice denying the request for mercy. According to him, the board didn’t “find sufficient cause to commute” the inmate’s death sentence. The execution is set to occur on August 8.
Honie’s execution will be the first in Utah since Ronnie Lee Gardner died by firing squad in 2010. Gardner was convicted of killing a defense attorney during an escape attempt in 1985. He was on trial for a separate murder.
There are currently seven inmates awaiting execution in the Beehive State. The legislature abandoned the firing squad as a method in 2004, and Honie will die by lethal injection. Prisoners sentenced to death before 2004 may still opt for death by firing squad.
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