Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is hoping to obtain pentobarbital ahead of the scheduled execution for a man sentenced to death for a 1998 murder in Cedar City — resolving claims the three drugs the state planned to use were an "experimental cocktail."
David Wolf, a Utah assistant attorney general, brought the information up during a hearing on Wednesday in a case filed by Taberon Honie, an inmate on Utah's death row, contesting the constitutionality of the drug mixture.
His execution is scheduled for the early morning hours on Aug. 8.
The Utah Department of Corrections said in a June statement it had secured three drugs that would make up a lethal injection for Honie's execution: Ketamine serves as a sedative, fentanyl relieves pain and potassium chloride stops the heart.
Honie's attorney, Eric Zuckerman, argued in the lawsuit that led to Wednesday's 3rd District Court hearing that the drugs were experimental and there is not evidence they are as effective as the drugs outlined in Utah's code.
Pentobarbital has been used in executions in multiple states, and was suggested by Zuckerman as an option that would significantly reduce the risk of pain for Honie. The drug slows activity of the brain and nervous system and in high doses stops the heart. It has been used to prevent seizures and by veterinarians to put down pets.
Although Wolf said it is "highly likely" that pentobarbital will be available, an evidentiary hearing was still set for July 30-31 for testimony from expert witnesses about whether or not the mixture of drugs proposed earlier would meet effectiveness standards, and would not cause unnecessary pain.
Utah's law outlines that lethal injections should use sodium thiopental or another "equally or more effective substance."
Honie was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend's mother Claudia Benn in front of her three grandchildren.
On July 9, 1998, Honie broke into Benn's home in Cedar City by smashing a rock into a glass door, then sexually assaulted the woman with a large knife and cut her throat, causing her to bleed to death.
After multiple appeals and rulings upholding Honie's sentence in 2002 and 2014 by the Utah Supreme Court, prosecutors filed an application for an execution warrant on May 1 asking for it to move forward, which was granted by 5th District Judge Jeffrey Wilcox on June 10.
Honie has requested a commutation hearing which is scheduled from July 22-24. He is asking the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole to commute his death sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
At the hearing scheduled on Wednesday in the 3rd District case regarding the process for the death penalty to be carried out, Judge Linda Jones said she would use a chess clock to give each side an equal amount of hours as they argue the effectiveness and consequences of using ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride.
Wolf said the hearing may not need to happen, if they are able to ensure they will have pentobarbital by Friday.
Zuckerman, however, said there could still be other questions, including whether the pentobarbital is manufactured or compounded and the method the Utah Department of Corrections intends to use to administer the drug — including dosage amounts.
On Wednesday attorneys also discussed whether Zuckerman will be able to have a phone to contact the court during the execution if he needs to bring up a question about his client's rights.
Wolf did not agree that phone contact with the judge that ordered Honie's execution is appropriate, but said if the court rules it is, prosecutors should be involved in the call.
Zuckerman also renewed his request to see updated, clear execution protocols from the Utah Department of Corrections. Wolf said the vast majority of courts have said death row inmates don't have a right to those protocols.
