Stop the Execution of Taberon Honie in Utah

Governor Spencer J. Cox

Taberon Honie is scheduled to be executed in Utah on August 8, 2024 for the 1999 murder of Claudia Benn.

CALL GOV. COX at 801-538-1000 to urge him to halt this unnecessary execution!

The Utah Board of Pardons & Parole held a clemency hearing on July 22 & 23 and issued its denial of mercy on July 26, setting in motion what could be the first execution in Utah since 2010.  Read news reports about the clemency hearing here and here. Taberon Honie is deeply remorseful, and is the not the same person that he was at age 22, when the crime was committed  more than 25 years ago.

According to news reports, mitigating evidence about his difficult childhood were heard for the first time in an official proceeding during the clemency hearing. Certainly, he has behaved well in prison and is not a future threat. If he receives mercy, he hopes to be part of his daughter's and granddaughter's lives as best as he can from prison.

Additional information is forthcoming.

In seeking its first execution since 2010, Utah positions itself to become an outlier in its use of the death penalty. The majority of U.S. states are on a downward trend of executions, and increasingly, states are abolishing the practice altogether, including the southern state of Virginia, which repealed its death penalty law in 2021. Only a handful of states that has carried out an execution since 2020.

Please sign the petition asking Governor Spencer J. Cox to do everything within his power to prevent an execution from occurring, including issuing a stay and seeking a path to clemency in the case.

Sponsored by

To: Governor Spencer J. Cox
From: Michael Koch

We are writing to ask that you not allow the execution of Taberon Honie on August 8, 2024 ​for the 1999 murder of Claudia Benn.

Taberon Honie is deeply remorseful, and is not the same person that he was at age 22, when the crime was committed more than 25 years ago. According to news reports, mitigating evidence about his difficult childhood were heard for the first time in an official proceeding during the clemency hearing. Certainly, he has behaved well in prison and is not a future threat. In requesting mercy, Taberon expressed his sorrow for his actions and his hope to be part of his daughter's and granddaughter's lives as best as he can from prison.

We are concerned that while the vast majority of states with capital punishment continue on a downward trend of executions, Utah seeks to go against this trend by seeking out executions.

We, the undersigned, ask that you do everything within your power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.

Thank you for your time and attention to this urgent and serious matter.