Taberon Honie’s execution in Utah cost more over $288,000

Salt Lake City, Utah – A report made public by the Department of Corrections details the over $300,000 cost of the state execution of convicted murderer Taberon Honie.

On Thursday, August 8, just after midnight, Honie was put to death by lethal injection. At 12:04 a.m., state representatives administered the first pentobarbital injection, followed nearly ten minutes later by a second administration.

According to the Utah Department of Corrections, $288,685.29 was spent on the entire event.

The majority of the financial burden, according to UDC, was incurred by paying for medical supplies and services, which totaled to $260,900. Purchases of the pentobarbital used in the execution accounted for the majority of that expense.

Paying overtime and for employees are additional expenses, which totaled around $11,000, while the cost of “supplies and equipment” for the event was more than $16,800.

The two decades’ worth of legal fees connected to Honie’s execution are not included in the report.

Honie, 48, killed Claudia Benn, 49, the mother of his ex-girlfriend, in 1999. He was found guilty and given the death penalty. Honie’s last attempt to overturn his conviction was unsuccessful earlier this year, thus putting his execution date.

Honie concluded by saying, “Let’s do this if it’s necessary for them to heal. Ignore them if they tell you that you are incapable of changing. Continue to evolve, my brothers and sisters in this place. I cherish each and every one of you. Be careful.

The execution of Honie marked the first in Utah’s history in fourteen years. Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last person executed by firing squad on June 18, 2010. In 1985, Gardner was found guilty of shooting Defense Attorney Michael Burdell to death during an attempted break-out from the courtroom. He had been accused of killing Melvyn Otterstrom in a heist at a bar in the past.

The Utah Department of Corrections reports that six prisoners remain on execution row.