Utah could be first state to use ketamine in execution, but lawsuit warns of a ‘horrific death’

The chamber where the Utah Department of Corrections plans to execute Taberon Honie by lethal injection is pictured. Honie is suing the department over the drugs it plans to use. Photo: Utah Department of Corrections

Attorneys for Taberon Honie are asking a court to stop the Utah Department of Corrections from using a ‘novel and untested lethal injection procedure’

By: Kyle Dunphey, Utah News Dispatch

On Aug. 8, Utah could become the first state in the country to use ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, in an execution by lethal injection.

But Taberon Honie, the state’s first death row inmate to face an execution warrant in more than a decade, is suing officials with the Utah Department of Corrections, claiming the novel approach could lead to unnecessary pain and suffering, while triggering hallucinations, paranoia and “mental anguish.”

The 75-page complaint, filed in Utah’s 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City, argues the effects of the drug cocktail — ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride — will violate Honie’s constitutional rights.

Eric Zuckerman, Honie’s attorney, also writes the state’s current execution protocol is rushed, outdated and inadequate, with text messages obtained through a subpoena suggesting a lack of communication between Utah Department of Corrections staff and the Attorney General’s Office.

Filed on Thursday, the suit names Brian Redd, executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections; Bart Mortensen, warden of the Utah State Correctional Facility; Randall Honey, director of prison operations, and the various “unnamed and anonymous” employees and staff “preparing for or carrying out Honie’s execution.”

The suit asks the court to put the scheduled execution on pause until the Department of Corrections takes the “reasonable and necessary steps to devise a new procedure.” Zuckerman is also asking the court to allow Honie’s counsel to have access to a communication device during the execution.

Without one, ​​Honie could be deprived of his ability “to contact a judge during his execution should it appear the execution is being carried out in a way that violates” the state constitution.

Glen Mills, director of communications for the Utah Department of Corrections, said the agency “anticipated this move, and will be watching to see how it plays out.”

“In the meantime, we are moving forward with our plan to fulfill our statutory responsibility on the date assigned,” Mills said in an email.

Honie was convicted in 1999 for sexually assaulting then murdering 49-year-old Claudia Benn, the mother of his ex-girlfriend. According to court documents, Benn’s three grandchildren were inside the home at the time.

A hearing is set for Wednesday before 3rd District Court Judge Linda Jones. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has also scheduled a commutation hearing for Honie starting on July 22, where he can argue his case for spending the rest of his life in prison rather than being executed.

Claims of ‘psychological torture’ and ‘unnecessary mental anguish’

Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that can lead to hallucinations, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The drug is “notorious for creating a psychotic state,” the complaint reads, which can result in paranoia, anxiety, strong hallucinations and out-of-body experiences.

If administered intravenously, Honie could be exposed “to unnecessary mental anguish” and rendered “incompetent,” Zuckerman writes. The lawsuit also claims the drug can cause suffocation, nausea and vomiting. There’s a greater risk of choking, according to court documents, because Honie will be strapped to a gurney “and unable to adequately lift his head.”

And the more ketamine that’s administered, the worse the “problematic” side effects become, the lawsuit alleges — it has what’s called a “ceiling effect,” meaning higher doses don’t necessarily correlate to more effective pain reduction.

Meanwhile, the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl has only been used in one U.S. execution, a 2018 lethal injection in Nevada where it was one of four drugs. Even in high doses, the complaint claims, fentanyl can’t “reliably induce unconsciousness.” And it could lead to “wooden chest syndrome,” according to court documents, causing “Honie to feel as if his chest has turned to stone, rendering him unable to breathe.”

Potassium chloride, the last drug to be administered, has for years been used in lethal injections around the country. But if the prisoner is not adequately unconscious, which Honie’s attorneys warn could happen, potassium chloride leads to “excruciating suffering.”

The drug is used to stop the inmate’s heart by disrupting the sodium and potassium ions in the cardiovascular system, which quickly causes an irregular heartbeat, then cardiac arrest, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

But without being properly sedated, potassium chloride can lead to extreme pain, described by the Center for Death Penalty Information as “liquid fire.”

In short, ketamine could cause “psychological torture,” fentanyl could lead to painful suffocation, and neither drug will mask the pain brought on by potassium chloride, Zuckerman writes. As a result, Honie could “suffer a horrific death.”

That’s an “unconstitutional” risk of pain and suffering, the lawsuit alleges. In addition, the Department of Corrections failed to take “necessary safeguards” in its execution protocol, which increases the risk of harm, Zuckerman writes. That includes failing to train staff and drafting “life-saving contingency plans.”

The complaint argues that instead of the current cocktail, a single-drug lethal injection using pentobarbital would “significantly reduce the substantial risk of severe pain.”

Pentobarbital is currently authorized in Texas, Arizona, Idaho, Missouri, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Ohio, North Carolina and South Dakota. Twelve of the country’s 24 executions carried out in 2023 were done with pentobarbital, according to records submitted as exhibits in the lawsuit.

Lawsuit: Department of Corrections’ protocol was ‘rushed’

The lawsuit also paints the protocol developed by the Department of Corrections as rushed, outdated and inadequate, a claim the department disputes.

Pointing to text messages submitted as an exhibit, Honie’s attorney says the department was “caught off guard” when the Utah Attorney General’s Office submitted the execution warrant.

After the warrant was submitted, Mills, the director of communications, wrote in a text to the department’s executive team: “They filed it last night. Nice to get notified!!!”

In response, executive director Redd texted “Oh wow. Unreal.”

Mills said on Friday the department knew well in advance the warrant was coming and had been planning the protocol for about a year, challenging the lawsuit’s claim that they weren’t aware the warrant would be filed. But they weren’t notified by the Attorney General’s Office, he said, instead finding out from Honie’s counsel.

“We weren’t caught off guard by the warrant being issued, we felt we should have been notified by the Attorney General’s office,” Mills told Utah News Dispatch on Friday.

The complaint also accuses the department of providing inconsistent information and making “misleading and false statements to the courts” regarding the dosage of the drugs and how and when they’ll be administered.

According to the complaint, that led to an inadequate protocol regarding things like the IV lines, instructions on how to administer backup syringes, possible secondary doses, logistics with the new prison site and how the consciousness check (prison staff will try to ensure Honie is unconscious before the potassium chloride is administered) will be conducted.