Anti-death penalty group protests Honie execution, calling it costly and unethical

SALT LAKE CITY — On Aug. 8, the first death row execution in the state of Utah since 2010 is set to take place, and it’s not without controversy.

Convicted killer Taberon Honie has been on death row for the last 26 years, about just as long as it’s been since the state used lethal injection.

Two people who know the death penalty first-hand came to the Cathedral of the Madeline Friday to argue the upcoming execution is immoral and costlier than the alternative of life in prison.

SueZann Bosler said her father once told her he wouldn’t even want his own killer to be executed. Almost a decade later, he was murdered during a home burglary.

“I’m looking down the hallway,” Bosler said, “he’s hanging onto the kitchen doorway, being stabbed with a knife multiple times over, and over and over.”

Scrambling to help, she suffered five stab wounds during the attack that resulted in brain injuries.

“If my dad was going to die, I wanted to hold him in my arms so that he wouldn’t die on that cold terrazzo floor by himself in a pool of blood,” she said.

Bosler would later have to hire a defense lawyer in her own case after being threatened with contempt of court for speaking against the possibility of her attacker’s execution.

“In the courtroom, I pointed to him. I said, ‘James Campbell, I forgive you whether you accept it or not.’” Bosler said.

Her fight was a success. The man received life in prison instead, beginning Bosler’s journey of fighting the death penalty.

Randy Gardner’s little brother, Ronnie Gardner, was the last person to be executed in the state of Utah by firing squad, in 2010.

“It came about so quick,” Randy Gardner said. “He was on death row for 25 years at that point. We never thought he’d be executed.”

Ronnie Gardner spent a similar amount of time as Taberon Honie on death row before his execution. His brother said they were given only 60 days to prepare.

Abraham Bonowitz, leader of Death Penalty Action, said the group travels to protest state executions as unfair and financially draining.

“We lift up the visibility, we shine a spotlight when it’s happening,” said Bonowitz. “They’re probably going to spend over one million dollars just this week.”

Three doses of pentobarbital cost Utah $200,000. It will cost taxpayers an estimated $66,000 just to inject Honie next Thursday.

Honie is to be executed for his conviction of sexually assaulting and murdering a woman in front of three children in 1998. He claims he was heavily influenced by his drug and alcohol use to commit the attack.

Preparation underway for Utah’s first execution by lethal injection in nearly 25 years

Death Penalty Action said Honie’s case is common amongst death row inmates.

“Most people who commit murder, most people who commit terrible crimes with the right kind of support and re-entry can be productive citizens again,” Bonowitz said.

The group said that death row inmates are typically from a traumatic background, which is why they feel it’s more effective to invest in preventative programs.