With the clock ticking, Utah looking for new drug for lethal injection execution

The chamber where the Utah Department of Corrections plans to execute Taberon Honie by lethal injection is pictured. Honie is suing the department over the drugs it plans to use. (Credit: Utah Department of Corrections)

The state of Utah could scrap its plan to use an untested, three-drug cocktail on death row inmate Taberon Honie, just weeks before he’s scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Aug. 8.  

On Wednesday, in a scheduling conference in Utah’s 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City, David Wolf with the Utah Attorney General’s Office said the state was working to obtain pentobarbital, a single-dose drug used in federal executions and authorized in 10 states. 

“It’s highly likely that the state will obtain manufactured pentobarbital for the execution,” said Wolf, although he went on to clarify that he “can’t guarantee it because they don’t have the drugs in their possession presently.” 

Wolf said the state should know by Friday whether it will be able to get the drug. 

That marks a change in the state’s original plan to use ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride, an unproven and never before used cocktail. Honie sued officials with the Utah Department of Corrections last week, arguing that the drugs would cause unnecessary pain and suffering, while triggering hallucinations, paranoia and “mental anguish.”

“We stand by the three-drug combination as an effective and humane method,” said Glen Mills, communications director for the department. “However, the defense has proposed pentobarbital as an acceptable alternative, and we have been looking into the feasibility of obtaining it.”  

If the department obtains pentobarbital, Wolf said that makes most of the complaint obsolete, except for a request in the lawsuit that Honie’s attorneys have access to a communication device during the execution. 

If the state can get the drug, Wolf said the Attorney General’s Office will likely file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. 

Utah would be the first state to use ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, in an execution. And it would be only the second state to use fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. Both of those drugs would be used to render Honie unconscious before the third and final drug, potassium chloride, is administered, stopping his heart. 

But the novelty of the cocktail, particularly the ketamine and fentanyl, has Honie’s attorneys questioning whether he would be adequately sedated before the potassium chloride is injected. Potassium chloride has been used in a number of U.S. executions, but without a proper anesthetic it can cause extreme pain, described as “liquid fire.”   

On July 11, Honie sued Brian Redd, executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections; Bart Mortensen, warden of the Utah State Correctional Facility; Randall Honey, director of prison operations; and the various “unnamed and anonymous” employees and staff “preparing for or carrying out Honie’s execution.”

His attorney Eric Zuckerman argued the state’s plan “creates an unnecessary and substantial risk that Honie will not be adequately anesthetized and will suffer a horrific death.” 

In the complaint, Zuckerman argued that pentobarbital would “significantly reduce the substantial risk of severe pain.”

But on Wednesday, Zuckerman told the court this was the first time he’s heard of the state trying to obtain pentobarbital. Despite advocating for its use in the complaint, Zuckerman told 3rd District Court Judge Linda Jones that finding out on such short notice could pose additional problems — he wants to know, among other things, how exactly the state plans to administer the pentobarbital.  

“I just want to put the court on notice that there are additional issues that we may need to raise if the state comes back and gives us notice that they’re going to use pentobarbital,” he said. 

Pentobarbital is currently authorized in Texas, Arizona, Idaho, Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, North Carolina and South Dakota. Twelve of the country’s 24 executions carried out in 2023 used pentobarbital, according to records Zuckerman submitted as exhibits in the lawsuit.

Although it does not explicitly mention pentobarbital, Utah statute states the Department of Corrections should use sodium thiopental or “other equally or more effective substance sufficient to cause death” in lethal injections. Due to shortages, most states have stopped using sodium thiopental. 

Still, the use of pentobarbital in executions has been criticized. A 2020 autopsy of Kansas death row inmate Wesley Purkey found that he suffered “extreme pain” when injected with pentobarbital, and according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine, the drug can cause “burning sensations” while some inmates “appeared to be writhing in pain.” 

Honie was convicted in 1999 for sexually assaulting then murdering 49-year-old Claudia Benn, the mother of his ex-girlfriend. According to court documents, Benn’s three grandchildren were inside the home at the time.

A hearing is set for July 30, where both sides will argue their case. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has also scheduled a commutation hearing for Honie starting on July 22, where he can argue to spend the rest of his life in prison rather than being executed.