Utah Supreme Court denies petition in Taberon Honie death penalty case, hearing still ahead
WEST JORDAN, Utah (ABC4) — The Utah Supreme Court has denied death row inmate Taberon Honie’s request for extraordinary relief, according to a document released on Monday.
Four days after a district judge signed the death warrant in June, Taberon Honie filed a petition for extraordinary relief raising concerns about the district court and constitutional arguments against the death penalty.
LEARN MORE: Death penalty in Utah: A brief history as state plans next execution
On Monday, the Utah Supreme Court denied the request stating Honie had “not demonstrated that the district court abused its discretion.”
The court stated there were no issues with the warrant application process and that the “district court correctly interpreted the law and did not abuse its discretion when it issued the death warrant.”
The Utah Supreme Court also said it “does not permit a defendant to employ a challenge to the issuance of a death warrant to raise constitutional arguments concerning a death penalty,” according to the document.
While the petition was denied, Honie still awaits a hearing later this month with the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole that will determine if his sentence will be knocked down to life in prison. The hearing is scheduled to take place on July 22 and last two to three days.
If the execution moves forward after the hearing, Honie will be the first person executed in Utah since Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad in 2010.
The execution is scheduled to take place by lethal injection on Aug. 8.
Honie was convicted of aggravated murder in 1999 after sexually assaulting and killing his ex-girlfriend’s mother, Claudia Benn, in the presence of three of her grandchildren.
In addition to aggravated murder, Honie was also convicted of object rape, forcible sodomy, aggravated sexual assault, burglary, and aggravated burglary.
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