Just moments before his execution on Thursday morning, Utah death row inmate Taberon Honie, 48, shared his final words.
"From the start, it's been, if it needs to be done for them to heal, let's do this," Honie began.
"If they tell you you can't change, don't listen to them. To all my brothers and sisters here, continue to change. I love you all. Take care."
Before his execution, Honie was provided a tablet and had a final meal of a cheeseburger, fries, and a milkshake. He spent most of his remaining time visiting with family.
The Utah Department of Corrections confirmed the lethal injection was administered at 12:04 a.m. MDT, and Honie was pronounced dead at 12:25 a.m. He received two doses of pentobarbital.
"Today, our department fulfilled one of the most consequential responsibilities given to the Department of Corrections," said department director Brian Redd.
"No one involved today takes joy in carrying out this responsibility, but we recognize it as one of our statutory duties, and we take it seriously."
Honie was convicted of aggravated murder for the 1998 killing of his girlfriend's mother, Claudia Benn. After breaking into her Cedar City home, he repeatedly slashed her throat and stabbed her multiple times.
Benn's grandchildren were also in the house during the attack.
The judge who sentenced him to death highlighted his sexual abuse of one of the children as an aggravating factor.
Honie's execution was Utah's first in over a decade, following the 2010 firing squad execution of Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was convicted of a 1985 murder.
