2 weeks Ago By Megan Brugger
SALT LAKE CITY ( ABC4 ) — A death row convict in Utah faces the firing squad now after the state has decided to move forward with his execution for a murder dating back to the 1990s. On Tuesday, May 1, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes signed the state’s application for execution for Taberone Dave Honie, who was convicted on May 18, 1999, for the aggravated murder of Claudia Benn. According to court documents, Honie committed the murder while also attempting to commit object rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual assault, burglary, aggravated burglary, and aggravated child sex abuse.
The jury in the case found Honie guilty of first five of those additional charges but could not reach unanimity on the aggravated child sexual abuse. Honie used a rock to smash through a glass patio door before he cut Benn’s throat four times and slashed her with a kitchen knife. She also faced bites and sexual assault.
Police arrested Honie covered in blood. Three children were in the home at the time of the killing. Firth District Judge Robert Braithwaite was quoted as saying at the time, “It was not a sentence I gave to the defendant; he earned it.
If this isn’t a death penalty case, I don’t know what is.” Honie waived the right to a jury for the penalty phase of the proceedings and on May 24, 1999 was sentenced to death. Honie attempted to appeal his case, but both the Utah Supreme Court and the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his original conviction.
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