SALT LAKE CITY — Condemned killer Taberon Honie's life is now in the hands of the Utah Board of Pardons & Parole.
A two-day hearing wrapped up on Tuesday afternoon. The board will now meet and decide whether to convert his death sentence to life in prison.
Honie on Monday pleaded for his life to be spared in remarks to the parole board.
"Would you allow me to exist? I’ve shown that I can exist in prison. I’m not a threat to the public. I’m not a threat to anyone," he said.
But on Tuesday morning, the family of his victim said they do believe he should be executed for the 1998 murder of Claudia Benn in Cedar City. One by one, they testified before the parole board.
"Every time I think of my mom, I think of the aftermath of this crime scene," cried Benn's daughter, Benita Yracheta. "I can’t pick up a phone and call her anymore, I can’t wish her a happy birthday, Mother’s Day. I have to go to the cemetery for holidays."
"Taberon, you robbed us," said Betsy China, Benn's cousin, who later added: "My choice would be the death penalty. Let’s get this over."
Honie is scheduled to die by lethal injection on August 8 for killing Benn, the mother of his ex-girlfriend. Prosecutors said he broke into her home, slit her throat and sexually assaulted her with a knife. Her grandchildren were in the home when it happened.
"There was blood all over, all over the damn house," said Sarah China, Benn's niece. "She fought for her life. She saved her grandkids, too. That’s a strong Paiute woman right there."
For his part, Honie told the parole board on Monday that he didn't intend to kill her, even though he did admit to taking her life. He said he had been using substances and does not remember the crime itself.
"This wasn’t planned. This wasn’t meant to happen," he said.
Honie's lawyers detailed a life of neglect and substance abuse. They argued to the board that he has changed in the 26 years he's been in prison. He has exhausted his appeals and his lawyers have only a few legal challenges left.
"I don’t know how I can come and ask you guys, spare me, when I took Claudia. When I took their pillar. I did that," Honie said. "But I owe it to my daughter and granddaughter to ask if there’s a possibility. The individual you’re talking to today isn’t the same person I wasn’t back then."
Honie's daughter, Tressa, testified on his behalf at his hearing. She told the parole board she feels in the middle, as she was robbed of a grandmother and a father.
"My father is there for me however he can be," she said. "Also, I feel like my life would have been different had I had my maternal grandmother alive still."
