Taberon Honie’s attorneys ask Gov. Spencer Cox to pause execution ‘shrouded in secrecy’

Attorneys for death row inmate Taberon Honie are asking Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to delay the execution scheduled for early Thursday morning over concerns that the current lethal injection protocol is incomplete and the steps prison officials took to obtain the drug are “shrouded in secrecy.” 

It’s the argument Honie’s attorney Eric Zuckerman has been making since his death warrant was signed in June — that the state’s execution protocol is outdated, incomplete and contradictory. Carrying out the execution violates state law, Honie’s attorneys argue, because the Utah Department of Corrections can’t enforce “inconsistent and incomplete protocols.” 

According to Zuckerman, the department’s current protocol increases the likelihood Honie’s execution could go awry, subjecting him to unconstitutional pain and suffering. 

Using that argument and citing concerns over the drugs the state initially planned to use, Honie sued prison officials in July, although that lawsuit was dismissed last week. After the judge’s ruling, Zuckerman told reporters the state’s approach was “dangerous.” 

The Department of Corrections, meanwhile, said “the narrative of a rushed, and even reckless process is false” in a statement Monday.  

“We have been meticulously planning this process for several months,” said Glen Mills, communications director for the department. “We are approaching our responsibility with the utmost care and professionalism.” 

It’s unclear if the governor plans to respond to the letter. Cox’s office did not provide Utah News Dispatch with comment Monday afternoon. 

While other states sometimes allow the governor to grant clemency to death row inmates facing execution, Utah law does not. In the letter, Honie’s attorneys instead ask Cox to use his “power as the Governor to instruct the Department of Corrections to follow the law and update its protocols.” 

“Other republican governors have stepped in to make sure that their corrections departments have adequate time to prepare for executions,” the letter reads, citing a 2022 decision from Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey to place a moratorium on the state’s executions. After three months, the moratorium was lifted. 

“Given that this is the first lethal injection in Utah in over 25 years, and the process has been unnecessarily rushed, it would be prudent for Utah to conduct a similar review of its execution procedures,” the attorneys wrote Cox, asking for a “temporary reprieve.” 

“The Department’s current plan, announced less than two weeks ago, leaves less than three weeks for prison personnel to prepare for Mr. Honie’s execution,” the letter reads. “It would be prudent to give the Department additional time to formalize its execution plans, instead of rushing forward with unclear and conflicting documents as the only guide, and for the State to conduct a review to ensure that any execution occurs in a manner that comports with the Constitution and all applicable laws.” 

Taberon Honie’s request to avoid death penalty denied as state moves forward with execution plan

Honie’s now dismissed lawsuit mostly revolved around the state’s decision to use an untested, three-drug cocktail consisting of fentanyl, ketamine and potassium chloride. It would have been the first time ketamine was used in an execution, and Honie’s attorneys argued neither that nor the fentanyl administered would be enough to shield the pain caused by potassium chloride. 

The state recognized the lawsuit would likely result in a lengthy, legal process and agreed to instead acquire pentobarbital, an anti-seizure medication now widely used in federal and state executions, recommended by Honie’s attorneys. According to court documents, the state paid an anonymous source more than $200,000 for the pentobarbital, “more than twice what any other state has paid,” the letter reads. 

Utah, and other states, don’t disclose where they get drugs for lethal injection. During a hearing in Honie’s lawsuit, attorneys for the state said that was because the sources are targeted by anti-death penalty activists. And finding such drugs can be difficult and legally fraught — it’s illegal in the European Union to supply drugs for an execution (although that hasn’t stopped U.S. prison officials from trying, according to reporting in the Arizona Mirror) and pharmaceutical manufacturers often decline to participate in lethal injections. 

According to the letter to Cox, an “anonymous individual” contacted Utah Department of Corrections Director Brian Redd, connecting him with someone, also anonymous, “who purports to be a distributor of pentobarbital and was willing to provide pentobarbital in violation of pharmaceutical distribution agreements.” 

But, as Honie’s attorneys write, the department has not provided “any original documentation verifying the source’s licensing and other relevant legal compliance, or the drug’s validity, including a certificate of analysis.” 

What’s more is the department’s execution protocol — a written set of guidelines and policies detailing how an execution should be carried out — hasn’t been updated since 2010, Honie’s attorneys write. 

That protocol refers to sodium thiopental, “a completely different drug and process,” the letter reads. Though sodium thiopental hasn’t been available for years, state statute requires the department to use it or “an equally effective substance.” The state determined pentobarbital to be an equally effective substance. 

“Rather than simply updating the execution protocol to account for the drug change, the Department has drafted additional informal instructions that conflict with the written execution protocol. The Department insists both are active and accurate, leading to irreconcilable conflicts that risk confusion during the execution process,” according to the letter. 

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole recently denied Honie’s request to instead spend the rest of his life in prison — and with Honie’s lawsuit now dismissed, the letter to Cox marks one of the last attempts to stop the execution. 

Honie was sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder and sexual assault of Claudia Benn, the mother of his ex-girlfriend. Honie, according to court documents, broke into Benn’s house, killed her, and mutilated her body while her three grandchildren were in the house. He would later admit to molesting one of the children after the murder.