Utah death row inmate at parole hearing says he wasn’t in ‘right mind’ when he killed girlfriend’s mom

Family members of Claudia Benn urged state board to maintain death sentence for Taberon Dave Honie

A Utah death row inmate says he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and wasn’t in his “right mind” during a gruesome 1998 murder, part of his efforts to convince a state parole board to convert his upcoming execution into a life sentence.

Taberon Dave Honie was convicted in 1999 of the slaying of his girlfriend’s mother, Claudia Benn, 49.

“That’s the part that I’m torn apart about,” Honie told Utah’s parole board on Monday. “How can I come and ask you guys to spare me when I took her? I have no answer.”

“The crime that happened is not me,” he added. “It’s something I did, but it’s not me.”

Honie, who was in a relationship with Benn’s daughter, broke into the victim’s home in Cedar City, slashed her throat, stabbed her genitals, and sexually abused one of Benn’s grandchildren, according to prosecutors.

Taberon Dave Honie is seeking to have his death sentence in Utah for a 1998 murder converted to a life sentence

Family members of Benn urged Utah officials on Tuesday to go through with the execution, which is scheduled for August 8.

“Taberon, you robbed us,” her cousin, Betsy China, testified, according to the Associated Press. “Twenty-five years of missing out on her knowledge, her ability to read at a higher level and comprehend and help us.”

“The way he killed her, that’s just sick...An eye for an eye, as God says it. It’s a sad day today,” Sarah China Azula, Benn’s niece, added in testimony of her own.

State officials are also seeking to continue with the planned execution.

Benn, before the murder, was a tribal council member and substance abuse counselor in a local Native American community.

If Utah goes through with the execution, it’ll be the state’s first since 2010, when Ronnie Lee Gardner was killed by firing squad.

Honie had previously appealed state plans to use a combination of ketamine, fentanyl, and potassium chloride in the execution, prompting them to switch to pentobarbital.