A death-row inmate in Utah plans to plead for his life this week ahead of a scheduled execution next month that would be the state's first in 14 years.
Taberon Dave Honie will appear before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole to seek clemency in the gruesome 1998 knifing of his ex-girlfriend's mother.
Defense lawyers maintain that Honie's traumatic childhood, past head injuries, history of substance abuse and "extreme intoxication" fueled the bloody slaying of Claudia Benn in front of her three young granddaughters after he broke into her home.
In a petition that seeks to have his sentence reduced to life in prison, they also said Honie, a native of Arizona's Hopi Indian Reservation, has expressed "genuine remorse and sadness" since his arrest, the Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors have called those arguments a "long deflection of responsibility that never once acknowledges any of the savage acts he inflicted on Claudia or her granddaughters."
Benn, 49, was killed after Honie, then 22, smashed open a sliding glass door at her home in Cedar City, north of Zion National Park, early on on July 9, 1998.
Honie badly beat Benn, then used a large butcher knife to slash her throat and mutilate her private parts, and also told authorities he attempted to anally rape Benn before realizing she was dead.
Honie was arrested by cops who responded to a neighbor's 911 call and caught him with his hands and forearms covered in blood after ordering everyone in the house to come outside.
His parole board hearing is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, with an additional half day reserved on Wednesday, if needed, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
It's the first of its kind since 2010, when death row inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner sought mercy for the murder of lawyer Michael Burdell during an attempted escape from a Salt Lake City courthouse in 1985.
Gardner's request was denied and he was executed by firing squad three days later, according to the Tribune.
Unless Honie prevails at his hearing, he's set to receive a lethal injection on Aug. 8.
Officials initially planned to use an untested combination of execution drugs but on Saturday said they would instead rely on pentobarbital after Honie's lawyers said the other drugs could cause him "excruciating pain."
