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Dustin
Lee Honken, 52, was put to death by lethal injection in Terre Haute
penitentiary, Indiana
Johnson's
former boyfriend, Dustin Honken, was convicted of five counts of Continuing Criminal Enterprise
murder. Although it was Honken who pulled the trigger, killing three adults and
two children, Johnson received the death penalty for four of the victims, while
Honken was sentenced to death for only the two children. The unanimous Eighth
Circuit affirmed Honken's conviction and sentence in September 2008.
On
July 25, 2019, United States Attorney General William
Barr approved the use of the single drug pentobarbital
for federal executions, and an execution date of January 15, 2020, was set for
Honken. On November 20, 2019, U.S. District Judge Tanya
S. Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction preventing the resumption of
federal executions. Honken and the other three plaintiffs in the case argued
that the use of pentobarbital may violate the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994.
On December 5, 2019, the Supreme Court denied a stay of
Chutkan's injunction while the United
States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reviewed
Chutkan's decision. Honken was imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary,
Terre Haute.
While
in prison Honken had converted to Catholicism.
The Archbishop of Newark, Cardinal Joseph
W. Tobin had written to president Donald
Trump in early July 2020 asking him to commute Honken's sentence, claiming
that he had witnessed Honken's "spiritual growth in faith and
compassion".
In
April 2020, a divided panel of the D.C. Circuit vacated District Judge
Chutkan's injunction in a per curiam decision. Circuit Judges Gregory
G. Katsas and Neomi Rao both wrote concurring opinions concluding that
Honken may be executed, but for different reasons. Circuit Judge David
S. Tatel dissented, arguing that the statute explicitly requires the
federal government to follow state execution protocols. On June 29, 2020, the
Supreme Court denied Honken's petition for review, with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia
Sotomayor dissenting.
On
July 17, 2020, at 3:36 p.m. CST, Honken was executed by lethal
injection. His final words were, "Hail Mary, Mother of God, pray for
me."
Family of
victims after Honken execution: 'step toward the healing of broken hearts and
shattered lives'
He is the first defendant in an Iowa case to be put to death since 1963.
Posted: Jul 17,
2020 3:55 PM
Updated: Jul
18, 2020 8:23 AM
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The U.S.
government on Friday put to death an Iowa chemistry student-turned-meth kingpin
convicted of killing five people, the third execution by the federal government
in a week.
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2005,
file photo, Dustin Lee Honken is led by US Marshals into the Federal Courthouse
in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, prior to his sentencing. AP photo
Dustin Honken, who prosecutors
said killed key witnesses to stop them from testifying in his drugs case,
received a lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute,
Indiana. Two others were also put to death during the week after a hiatus of
nearly 20 years, including Kansan Wesley Purkey. His lawyers contended he had
dementia and didn’t know why he was being executed.
The first in the spate federal
executions happened Tuesday, when Daniel Lewis Lee was put to death for killing
a family in the 1990s as part of a plot to build a whites-only nation. Lee’s
execution, like Purkey’s, went ahead only after the U.S. Supreme Court gave it
a green light in a 5-4 decision hours before.
Honken, of Britt, Iowa, had been
on death row since 2005 and was the first Iowan with a death sentence imposed
by Iowa jurors to be executed since 1963. Iowa struck the death penalty from
state statutes in 1965, but Honken was eligible for the death penalty under
U.S. law because he was tried in federal court.
Honken was pronounced dead at
4:36 p.m., the Bureau of Prisons said.
The inmate — known for his
verbosity at trial and for making a long statement of his innocence at his
sentencing — spoke only briefly, neither addressing victims’ family members nor
saying he was sorry. His last words were, “Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for
me.”
Honken's lawyer, Shawn Nolan,
said his client was “redeemed” and had repented for his crimes. Honken was a
devout Catholic who “cared for everyone he came into contact with” in prison,
Nolan said.
“There was no reason for the
government to kill him, in haste or at all. In any case, they failed. The
Dustin Honken they wanted to kill is long gone,” Nolan said. "The man they
killed today was a human being, who could have spent the rest of his days
helping others and further redeeming himself. May he rest in peace.”
Honken, whose crimes struck at
the foundation of the U.S. justice system, always seemed the least likely to
win a reprieve from the courts.
Mark Bennett, the now-retired
federal judge who oversaw Honken’s 2004 trial for the kidnappings and killings,
said previously that he generally opposed the death penalty. But if anyone
deserved it, he added, it was Honken.
While out on bond in his drugs
case in July 1993, Honken and his girlfriend Angela Johnson kidnapped Lori
Duncan and her two daughters from their Mason City, Iowa, home, then killed and
buried them in a wooded area nearby. Ten-year-old Kandi and 6-year-old Amber
were still in their swimsuits on the hot summer day when they were shot
execution-style in the back of the head.
Their primary target that day was
Lori Duncan’s then-boyfriend, Greg Nicholson, who also lived at the home and
was also killed. He and Lori Duncan were bound and gagged and shot multiple
times. Honken had recently learned Nicholson, a former drug-dealing associate,
was cooperating with investigators and would likely testify against Honken at
trial.
Lori Duncan didn’t know Nicholson
was an informant and she wasn’t involved in drugs.
As the investigation into Honken
continued, he killed another drug dealer working with him, Terry DeGeus,
beating him with a bat and shooting him.
Honken had earlier informed the
judge in his drug case that he would plead guilty at the end of July. But days
after the still-undiscovered killings of Nicholson and the Duncans, he told the
court he would stick to his not guilty plea.
Investigators found the Nicholson
and Duncan bodies only seven years later, in 2000, after Johnson scrawled out a
map showing a jailhouse informant where they were buried. DeGeus’ body was
found a few miles from the wooded area.
Honken was considered so
dangerous that the judge took the rare step of impaneling an anonymous jury.
Other security measures included fitting Honken with a stun belt under his
clothes to prevent him from trying to escape.
Johnson, Honken’s girlfriend, was
convicted in a separate trial and sentenced to death. Bennett later reduced her
sentence to life behind bars.
Statement from the family of
Terry DeGeus:
“The reason for us
being present today was not to watch a man die. It was to show love, support,
and respect to my daughter’s father, Terry. That we loved him until the end and
still do. It was the least we could do."
Statement from the family of
Lori, Kandace & Amber Duncan:
“To whom it may
concern,”
“27 year ago two
beautiful girls and their mother were taken from us by a violent criminal and
his girlfriend. For 27 years we have grieved for them while their killers lived
on.”
“Today, the little
girls Kandace and Amber would be 37 and 33. They never had the chance to grow
up and share in the joys and sorrows of life. Their mother never got to see
them having a first dance, first date, or walk down the aisle at their wedding.
There were no family reunions. No visits to grandparents’ house, no overnights
at cousins. Their lives were snuffed out.”
“However, their killer
has lived the years since then with a bed and meals provided for him.”
“Today, we gather to
witness the execution of Dustin Honken, their murderer. It is a day we thought
would never come. Finally, justice is being done. It will bring a sense of
closure but we will continue to live with their loss. However, this is a step
toward the healing of broken hearts and shattered lives.”
“We regret that so many members
of our family have passed on and were never able to see this day.”
Over recent days, prison
authorities permitted Honken to make his last calls to family and friends,
according to Sister Betty Donoghue, a Catholic nun whom he called Wednesday.
On death row, Honken befriended
Lee and knew his execution was called off one hour, then was back on another
hour, Donoghue said.
“He was very upset with the way
Danny died,” said Donoghue, who visited Honken regularly over the past decade.
Yet Donoghue, of the Sisters of
Providence just outside Terre Haute, said she was startled by how calm Honken
sounded over the phone.
“He was at peace. I was totally
amazed,” she said. “He believed he would go to heaven. He is ready to meet his
maker.”
At his sentencing in 2005, Honken
denied killing anybody, but Donoghue said never heard him say he was innocent.
Honken’s mother, brother and
college-aged daughter visited him in prison in recent days, she said.
Honken grew up in the northern
Iowa town of Britt, the son of an alcoholic father with bank robbery
convictions. But Hoken was regarded as bright and good at math. He went on to
study chemistry at a community college, before dropping out to pursue a career
dealing drugs instead.
He moved to Arizona and drew on his expertise in
chemistry to produce highly purified meth in the hopes of getting rich. He and
a friend distributed their product through dealers based in Mason City, Iowa.
At trial, Honken’s attorney, Alfredo Parrish, tried
unsuccessfully to soften his client’s image, describing him to jurors as
“basically a nerd” who became “infatuated with drug manufacturing.”
INTERNET
SOURCE: https://www.kimt.com/content/news/North-Iowa-mass-murderer-Dustin-Honken-executed-571804801.html
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Daniel
Lewis Lee (January 31, 1973 – July 14, 2020) was an American convicted murderer
who was sentenced to death for the 1996 murders of William Mueller, Nancy Ann
Mueller, and their daughter Sarah Elizabeth Powell. Lee and his accomplice,
Chevie Kehoe, murdered gun dealer William Frederick Mueller, his wife, and his
8-year-old step-daughter, in Arkansas, on January 11, 1996. He was executed on
July 14, 2020 at The Federal Correctional
Institute, Terre Haute, Indiana. He was executed by lethal injection and
pronounced dead at 8:07 a.m. EDT.
Kehoe was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the Mueller murders. Lee was also convicted for his role in the murders; he was sentenced to death by the United States federal government in spite of pleas for clemency from the Muellers' family members. Lee was scheduled to be executed on July 13, 2020, but on that date, a U.S. district judge blocked the execution, citing unresolved legal issues. In the early hours of July 14, the Supreme Court ruled that the execution could proceed. Following this ruling, Lee's execution was scheduled for 4:00 AM that same day. The execution took place later that morning, and Lee was declared dead at 8:07 AM on July 14, 2020. He was the first person to be executed by the federal government in 17 years.
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Kehoe was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the Mueller murders. Lee was also convicted for his role in the murders; he was sentenced to death by the United States federal government in spite of pleas for clemency from the Muellers' family members. Lee was scheduled to be executed on July 13, 2020, but on that date, a U.S. district judge blocked the execution, citing unresolved legal issues. In the early hours of July 14, the Supreme Court ruled that the execution could proceed. Following this ruling, Lee's execution was scheduled for 4:00 AM that same day. The execution took place later that morning, and Lee was declared dead at 8:07 AM on July 14, 2020. He was the first person to be executed by the federal government in 17 years.
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