SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox is denying death row inmate Taberon Dave Honie's request for a temporary reprieve.
Honie is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection just after midnight on Thursday morning for killing his ex-girlfriend's mother in 1998 in Cedar City.
Last week, attorneys for Honie sent an email to the governor with their request for a temporary reprieve while questioning how Utah Department of Corrections administrators obtained the drug that will be used and arguing the process has not been transparent.
"The Utah Department of Corrections' hasty rush to prepare for an execution risks dangerous outcomes. The entire process is shrouded in secrecy and we ask you to exercise your constitutional discretion to grant a temporary reprieve so that adequate time and preparation can be taken to ensure a safe process," their email states.
Honie's attorneys claim the state is rushing to meet the Aug. 8 execution warrant deadline and has not been fully transparent about the drugs being used for the lethal injection. The state originally said it would use an experimental three-drug cocktail of ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride, but later stated that it had acquired pentobarbital for about $200,000.
"Due to a new state secrecy statute that was surreptitiously added to an uncontroversial corrections bill at the last minute, without any public notice or debate, information about the source of the pentobarbital is being kept secret from both Mr. Honie and the public," his attorneys argued to Cox. "The department refuses to provide any original documentation verifying the source's licensing and other relevant legal compliance, or the drug's validity, including a certificate of analysis."
In his reply on Tuesday denying a temporary reprieve, Cox noted, "I am mindful of the fact that Mr. Honie has had every opportunity to challenge his sentence since it was imposed 25 years ago, in litigation and before the Board of Pardons and Parole. It is my understanding that Mr. Honie has exhausted his appeals before our state courts. He also had a commutation hearing before the Board of Pardons and Parole. The board declined to commute his sentence."
The governor says the corrections department has "gone above and beyond in planning and preparing for Mr. Honie's execution," and "in fact, in reviewing these concerns, the court found the department has provided Mr. Honie with more than the law requires.
"Ultimately, my review of your request indicates that a temporary reprieve is not warranted. Indeed, it is not clear to me that any benefit would come from delaying Mr. Honie's sentence further," Cox stated in his reply.
Before the governor announced his decision, the Utah Department of Corrections also weighed in on Honie's latest request, stating, "We have been meticulously planning this process for several months.
"We understand the defense has a job to do, but the narrative of a rushed, and even reckless process is false," the department said. "We are approaching our responsibility with the utmost care and professionalism."
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