Anti-death penalty group presenting petition to Utah governor ahead of Honie execution

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The anti-capital punishment group Death Penalty Action will be presenting a petition to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox about 13 hours before the scheduled execution of Taberon Honie.

Honie, who has been on death row since 1999, will be put to death by lethal injection at midnight Thursday.

The group is holding a press conference at the Utah State Capitol Building prior to taking the petition to the governor's office.

Per Utah law, the governor does not hold the power to commute or stay sentences for death row inmates. That authority belongs to the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, which held a commutation hearing in July and opted not to grant Honie clemency.

Cox on Tuesday denied a request from Honie's attorneys for temporary reprieve.