Dad who killed ex's mom in 1998 executed in Utah's first since 2010 (2024)

A Utah man who slit his ex-girlfriend's mother's throat in 1998 was put to death in the early hours of Thursday morning, becoming the first person to be executed by the state in 14 years.

Taberon Dave Honie, 48, was convicted of aggravated murder in the July 1998 death of Claudia Benn, after he broke into her house in Cedar City and repeatedly slashed her and stabbed her to death while her grandchildren, including Honie's own then-two-year-old daughter, were home.

Cops, who were called by neighbors in the early hours of the following day, found him in Benn's garage with her blood under his fingertips. He admitted during his arrest: 'I stabbed her. I killed her with a knife.'

Forensic investigators who swarmed Benn's Cedar City home found that Honie had cut the tragic grandmother's throat four time ear to ear to deeply that the knife reached her spine.

They also found he had stabbed her several times in and around her genitals, as well as evidence that he had sexually abused one of her grandchildren immediately after her death.

Despite admitted two days ago that he was 'a monster' to the state's parole board during his final appeal against the death penalty, he spent a quarter of a century trying to fight the sentence, which was handed down in 1999.

Claims of racially motivated prosecutors, abuse suffered at the hands of his parents and even long-term brain damage he said he suffered from a 30-ft fall from a ladder all failed to convince appeals judges, including the state's Supreme Court.

His final appeal, based on the claim that he needed to be alive to support his daughter, Tressa Honie, in any way he could given her troubled relationship with her mother, Benn's daughter, was denied.

Her mother's side of the family has staunchly fought to ensure Honie gets executed.

They described Benn as a pillar in their family and southwestern Utah community - a Paiute tribal member, substance abuse counselor and caregiver for her children and grandchildren.

Sarah China Azule, Benn's niece, said she was happy with the board's decision to move forward with Honie's execution.

'He deserves an eye for an eye,' she said.

But Tressa told the AP that she has always felt out of place from her mother's family.

'My mom's side, they can heal together,' she said in an interview. 'I'm happy you guys are going to get this closure, this justice, but where does that leave me? I feel like I have to heal alone.'

Trevia Wall, Benn's niece, said she's had an 'on-and-off' relationship with Tressa over the years but has tried to offer her extra support leading up to her father's death. Wall was among those who testified in favor of Honie´='s execution - an outcome she deemed necessary to get justice for her aunt. The two cousins embraced and cried together after the last hearing.

'It's bittersweet,' Wall said in an interview. 'Now we can finally move forward, we can finally heal, but it´s bitter because I hurt for my cousin, his daughter. He put her in the middle, and she was torn between her father and her grandmother.'

Honie's last meal before his execution was a cheeseburger, french fries and a milkshake, Utah Department of Corrections said. Honie spent the evening with his family before the execution.

Outside the prison, a group of anti-death penalty protesters held signs that said, 'All life is precious' and prayed and sang 'Amazing Grace.'

Honie's death came just hours after Arthur Lee burton, a man described by his lawyers as intellectually disabled, was executed in Texas for strangling and trying to rape a woman who went jogging near her Houston home more than 27 years ago.

Arthur Lee Burton had been sentenced to death for the July 1997 killing of Nancy Adleman, a 48-year-old mother of three who police found beaten and strangled with her own shoelace in a wooded area off a jogging trail along a bayou.