SALT LAKE CITY — Condemned killer Taberon Honie pleaded for his life during his commutation hearing, saying that he wished he could take back the murder of Claudia Benn.
"The individual that committed those crimes isn’t the individual that’s talking to you today," Honie told the Utah Board of Pardons & Parole, which is considering whether to convert his death sentence to life in prison.
Honie was reacting to testimony by family members and medical experts on the first day of his commutation hearing. He acknowledged there was many things he could not remember of the day he killed Claudia Benn back in 1998.
"I can’t take anything back. I don’t remember some of it, but the fact is she’s gone and I did it," he said. "I can’t change that fact no matter how much I want to. I was ready to come and argue the points of Judge Braithwaite giving me the death penalty. That don’t matter. I’m to be held accountable because I did this. I’m not trying to minimize this. I’m not trying to take away Claudia’s family’s pain."
The hearing focused on Honie's upbringing, his substance abuse and his troubled relationship with his girlfriend.
"Yes, I'm a monster. Yes, I'm a POS. The only thing that kept me going all these years, this would have never happened if I was in my right mind. That’s the only thing I know 100% for sure."
Honie does not remember breaking into his ex-girlfriend's home in Cedar City. He said he had been drinking all day. He told the parole board he remembered a knife, but he does not remember much else. Honie was convicted of slitting Benn's throat and sexually assaulting her with a knife.
"This wasn't planned. I didn't go over there to kill Claudia," he said.
Honie said he is trying to "put everything on the table" as he faces a lethal injection execution on August 8. But he said he has grown and matured in prison. He is no longer abusing substances.
The parole board may hear from Benn's family on Tuesday before rendering a decision. Under Utah law, only the board has the ability to commute a sentence. The governor does not have that power.
Honie is fighting efforts to execute him. His lawyers filed a lawsuit challenging a unique drug cocktail the state obtained to put him to death. However, the Utah Department of Corrections said in a court filing it has obtained pentobarbital, which is used in other states for lethal injection executions.
