Utah | Inmate has execution date set despite concerns about new lethal injection drug combination

Taberon Dave Honie is set to be executed using a new drug in a lethal injection cocktail, which will now feature ketamine alongside the usual fentanyl and potassium chloride

A murderer has had his execution date set despite growing concerns over the lethal injection drug combination to be used.

Taberon Dave Honie, 48, was convicted in the 1998 killing of a 49-year-old woman and will be put to death on August 8. Decades of failed appeals to get Honie off of Death Row have been disregarded and a date has since been set by a Utah judge. It will be the first execution in the state since Ronnie Lee Gardner was killed by firing squad in 2010.

But concerns over the "experimental" drugs cocktail used in the upcoming execution has concerned Honie's attorney, Eric Zuckerman. He claims his client and team have not been given ample time to assess the drugs and allow Honie to make an informed decision.

Two of the three drugs to be used in the lethal injection have been used before. Pain reliever fentanyl and potassium chloride to stop the heart are usually used in the death sentence process, but an additional sedative, ketamine, will also be used. It has, to Mills' knowledge, not been used in a public execution in Utah before.

He said: "The state has not provided any details about this novel procedure, including the drug doses. And the state says it will not revise its written procedures, making it the only jurisdiction to move forward with an execution without accurate written procedures." Dan Bokovoy, an attorney for the Department of Corrections, has responded and says the state does not require the agency to update protocols.

Fellow attorney Daniel Boyer of the Utah Attorney General's office has argued against Honie receiving any more appeals as he has exhausted his previous attempts, AP reported. Judge Jeffrey Wilcox set the date and says there is no legal reason to delay the death sentence. He said: "I am not prepared after hearing the arguments today to rule and say that these (lethal injection) protocols are required before this court will sign a writ of execution."

Judge Wilcox has requested information of the administered drugs be given to Honie as soon as possible. Honie was convicted in 1999 of aggravated murder in the killing of Claudia Benn, 49. He had smashed through a glass patio door at Benn's home where she was living with her three granddaughters and daughter. Honie cut Benn's throat four times before police arrived to find him covered in blood.

Failed appeals against Honie's death sentence were revealed as his legal team argued the trial attorney had not raised the issues of his mental health and substance abuse during his sentencing. Should the drugs needed for a lethal injection not be available, the state of Utah allows for firing squads as a backup method in the execution process.

Source: mirror.co.uk, Ewan Gleadow, June 11, 2024

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