Utah Department of Corrections

Honie, 48, was convicted of aggravated murder in the brutal July 1998 death of his girlfriend’s mother, Claudia Benn. His execution followed decades of failed appeals.

Taberon Dave Honie is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Aug. 8 for the 1998 killing of his girlfriend’s mother.

Relatives of victim Claudia Benn offered emotional testimony about the crime on Tuesday before Utah's parole board. They said her slashing and stabbing death still traumatizes their close-knit Native American community.

The two-day commutation hearing began Monday in Salt Lake City for Taberon Dave Honie. He was found guilty of murder in the death of his girlfriend’s mother in 1998.

Honie is scheduled for execution on Aug. 8. Defense attorneys had filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the use of the cocktail of ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride.

A working group of state representatives, law enforcement, business leaders and those with lived experience with incarceration want to find innovative solutions to high recidivism in Utah.

Families described mosquito infestations and insufficient access to medication after inmates moved in two years ago. Now, they say there has been good progress.

The Utah Department of Corrections is under fire for discriminating against a transgender inmate who the U.S. Department of Justice said was driven to harm herself after she was repeatedly denied hormone therapy.

The bill would require an incarcerated transgender woman to be housed in the male wing of the jail or prison.

The money is aimed at improving access to mental health and substance abuse care in more remote parts of the state.

The Utah Department of Corrections brought in help from other state agencies to address medical issues at the new Salt Lake City facility.

“In the last six weeks, and four of those weeks have been in the new prison, the Utah Prisoner Advocate Network has received 73 emails related to significant medical concern,” said the advocacy group's director and cofounder.