Utah scraps untested lethal drug combination for man's August execution

Utah officials are scrapping plans to use an untested drug combination in next month’s planned execution of a man in a 1998 murder case. State officials said Saturday they will instead use a drug that’s been used previously in executions in numerous states. Defense attorneys for Taberon Dave Honie had filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the use of the drug combination. They said it could cause the 49-year-old defendant “excruciating suffering.” Honie is scheduled for execution on Aug. 8. He was convicted of aggravated murder in the stabbing of his girlfriend's mother.