This week marks a significant moment for two death row inmates in Texas and Utah, both scheduled for execution by lethal injection.
In Texas, Arthur Lee Burton, 54, will face execution at the Huntsville Unit on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Taberon Dave Honie, 48, is slated for execution at the Utah State Correctional Facility on Thursday.
So far this year, five states have carried out executions, totaling ten inmates, with Alabama, Missouri, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas leading the way.
Honie’s execution will be Utah’s first in over a decade, the last being Ronnie Lee Gardner’s firing squad execution in 2010.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Utah Department of Corrections via AP, File
These inmates, all males aged between 41 and 69, have mostly faced lethal injection, except for Kenneth Eugene Smith in Alabama, who was executed using nitrogen hypoxia—a method where the individual dies from asphyxiation after inhaling only nitrogen.
About Arthur Lee Burton
Burton was convicted for the 1997 murder of Nancy Adleman in Harris County. The crime occurred while she was jogging, where he allegedly strangled her with her shoelaces after assaulting her in a nearby wooded area.
Despite his conviction, Burton asserts his innocence, claiming his confession was coerced. After his initial sentence was overturned, he received a death sentence once again. Judge Ramona Franklin has signed the execution order, stating that Burton has exhausted all legal avenues to avoid execution.
About Taberon Dave Honie
Honie was sentenced to death for the 1998 murder of his ex-girlfriend’s mother, Claudia Benn, aged 49. Their relationship had been ongoing from 1995 until their breakup in 1998.
After threatening his ex-girlfriend, Carol Pikyavit, over the phone, he broke into Benn’s home and fatally stabbed her with a kitchen knife. He also committed sexual assault against one of Benn’s granddaughters.
Charged with aggravated murder, burglary, object rape, and forcible sodomy, Honie was initially set to be executed using a combination of ketamine, fentanyl, and potassium chloride. However, concerns over this method prompted a switch to pentobarbital, which is more commonly employed for executions.
The execution remains scheduled after the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole declined to change Honie’s sentence to life in prison on July 26.