Born into a life of uncertainty, Honken grew up in Britt, a small town west of Mason City in north central Iowa. Honkens lawyer, Shawn Nolan, said his client was redeemed and had repented for his crimes. [7], Honken was released on bond and searched for Nicholson's whereabouts. To minimize potential prejudice, the court ordered for officers not to move Honken in the presence of the jury and that table skirts be placed on the counsel tables so the jury would be unable to see the shackles. Their attraction was mutual, and she would shortly dump her current boyfriend, Honkens dealer,DeGeus, for the boss. Dustin Honken is up for execution for the murder of five . A statement from the Department of Justice echoed the Duncans' sentiment that due process had been seen through. Federal court appeals later described their relationship while dismissing claims that there was substantial mitigation in his upbringing: The movant's mother provided a stable, nurturing and loving environment, never abandoned him, did not fail to provide any sort of safe space or comfort to him, never neglected him, never failed to calm him or tell him that things were going to be okay, acted as a loving caretaker and facilitated the movant's attachment to her by making herself available to him. On top of that, the bureau spent $6,594 on bottled water, $6,480 on single-serving bags of potato chips and $12,998 on disposable trays and baggies to deliver it all. BRITT, Iowa The federal government has been given the green light to resume executions following a justice department study of the death penalty. [27], During cross-examination, a defense attorney questioned why someone like Honken would confide in "a couple of crackheads who steal hogs" for a living. "[31], The presiding judge stated, "I am troubled by the lack of certainty in the record concerning the precise involvement of Angela Johnson in these crimes". Johnson discussed the murders in detail, which McNeese secretly recorded. Dustin Honken, 52, 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,. 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. Honken was considered so dangerous that the judge took the rare step of impaneling an anonymous jury. For his last words, he turned to the writings of a Jesuit priest, Gerard Manley Hopkins, reciting lines from the poem Heaven-Haven. He reportedly wanted three last meals before his execution. "For years now, the government has made these terrible accusations against me," he said. Donations from readers like you are essential to sustaining this work. Johnson bought a pistol on July 7, 1993. He said Honken was "a young man infatuated with drug manufacturing, basically a nerd.[7]. [12], In the early 1990s, Honken started selling marijuana and cocaine. On July 17, 2020, Honken was executed by lethal injection. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Johnson's mother was an abusive and neglectful alcoholic. The agency also fed the guards and some of the other law enforcement agencies that came to help with outside security, racking up a tab of more than $3,990 for snacks and light refreshments.. (The records list only $33.11 for Dustin Lee Honken' s dinner from Pizza Hut, and $0 spent when Keith Dwayne Nelson refused a meal .) }) Iowa-licensed. In 1963, Victor Feguer, who kidnapped and killed a Dubuque doctor, was executed by hanging at the Iowa State Penitentiary. MEAWW brings you the best content from its global team of [3] Johnson was also sentenced to death, the first woman sentenced to death by a United States federal jury since the 1950s, but the sentence was overturned in 2012,[5] and she was resentenced to life without parole in 2014. Families for two of Honken's victims provided public statements, differing in tone and length, but each rife with emotion. CNN The US government on Friday executed Dustin Lee Honken, the third federal inmate to receive the death penalty this week after the punishment was revived by the Trump administration. }); Using this evidence, and testimony from a collection of prisoners Honken told in not-so-subtle terms that he killed a handful of people in 1993, prosecutors brought murder charges against the former underworld honcho. From meth to murder: How a small-town Iowa boy became the state's first death row inmate in 50 years, Timeline of events in the infamous 1993 Iowa murders, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Honken conspired with another inmate to escape from jail by breaking a hole in the wall of his cell and having Johnson deliver a hacksaw and a rope. A Catholic priest, Honkens spiritual adviser, stood near him inside the death chamber. ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- The secret of Jodi Huisentruit's disappearance could die with the execution of a notorious Iowa drug kingpin. A prison official in Terre Haute, Indiana, reportedly told the New York Post: "We will not be providing details of Mr. Lees last meal.". "I've climbed far bigger hills than that little hill. His execution is fast approaching and he is scheduled to die on July 17th at a prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. "He recognized and repented for the crimes he had committed, and spent his time in prison atoning for them," Nolan said in a statement. More: Timeline of events in the infamous 1993 Iowa murders. Investigators found the Nicholson and Duncan bodies only seven years after the killings, in 2000, after Johnson scrawled out a map showing a jailhouse informant where they were buried. While in jail, Honken confessed to fellow inmates that he'd killed witnesses from an earlier case. This is an intelligent young man." With no witnesses, the government dropped their drug case in 1995 and Honken went back to making meth. Honken, who was known as "Iowa's Walter White", murdered government informants and two children days before he was set to enter a plea for drug charges in 1993. Upon hearing the sentence, Honken seemed visibly disappointed. [10][11] Johnson was raised by extremely religious grandparents who would hold her down, wave Bibles over her head, and speak in tongues in an attempt to exorcise demons from her. The Justice Department has executed Dustin Lee Honken in Terre Haute, Ind., the third federal inmate put to death by the government this week. He also pointed to Honken's youth, saying, "The court needs to consider his age. After finishing a year of community college chemistry classes with an A-minus, Honken, decided to become both a drug manufacturer and a dealer using what he had learned. Honken was pronounced dead after 30 minutes longer than the other two executions. Soon, he would meet Angela Johnson, a woman who shared his ruthless worldview. [1], In April 2020, a divided panel of the D.C. The crime Honken was executed for started as a missing-persons case tangentially connected to a federal drug trafficking charge. Honken and Cutkomp were indicted on federal drug trafficking charges. [22] As a reward for his testimony, a judge reduced McNeese's sentence, and he was released from prison on November 14, 2017. A former Fulbright and H.F. Guggenheim fellow, he has reported on a range of criminal justice subjects, including jail conditions, sheriffs, wrongful convictions, and art by incarcerated people. Honken told Cutkomp that he was worried about DeGeus turning on him. Kandi and Amber each had a single bullet wound in the back of their heads. Keith Dwayne Nelson, who kidnapped and raped a 10-year-old girl, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 28. This sanitized murder really does not serve no purpose whatsoever.". Meth didnt enter the picture until 1991, after he had completed a year of community college chemistry, earning an A- average. She offered a measure of apology at her first sentencing in 2005, saying she wanted to tell law enforcement about the killings, but feared for her life. Over the years he grew incredibly close to his family, becoming a true father, son, brother and friend. Circuit vacated District Judge Chutkan's injunction in a per curiam decision. ga('ads.send', { More: From meth to murder: How a small-town Iowa boy became the state's first death row inmate in 50 years. Michael Conroy/AP The attorneys of each convict tried to block their clients' executions in last-ditch attempts to save their lives, two of them nearly succeeded only for the Supreme Court to ultimately give the green light to the Trump administration to go ahead. The hotel was nice enough, and only a 10-minute drive from the federal execution chamber in Terre Haute where the man who killed Muellers father would take his last breath. if(document.querySelector("#adunit")){ Honken, 52, was sentenced to die in October 2005 after being convicted of numerous offenses, including five counts of murder among them two small children during the course of a continuing. After all appeals and injunctions were dismissed by various courts over the years, the 52-year-old was executed by lethal injection in the US Penitentiary in Terre Haute on July 17, 2020. Theyre willing to go to extraordinary lengths in terms of spending our money and then hiding the footprints of it.. In 2004, Dustin Lee Honken was convicted on federal charges in execution-style slayings of five people in Iowa. Honken also murdered Terry DeGeus, another possible witness against him, by beating him with a bat and shooting him. Records providing details of the spending, which the American Civil Liberties Union estimates totaled nearly $4.7 million over two months, were released under the federal Freedom of Information Act. document.querySelector("#google_image_div").addEventListener('click',function(){ We believe the defendant was involved in this. Honkens mother, brother and college-age daughter visited him in prison in recent days, she said. May he rest in peace.". Around seven years later, the police found the Duncan family and Gregs bodies buried in a single hole, which was located in a wooded area outside Mason City in 2000. A statement from relatives of Lori, Amber and Kandace Duncan the 31-year-old mother and her 6- and 10-year-old daughters whomHonken also killed lamented that their lives were "taken" while Honken's continued for 27 more years. document.querySelector("#adunit").addEventListener('click',function(){ In 2004, Dustin Lee Honken was . } The man they killed today was a human being, who could have spent the rest of his days helping others and further redeeming himself. 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.. hitType: 'event', This timehis co-conspirator, Cutkomp,turned states witness, collecting Honkens musings about destroying evidence, buying a gun and eliminating investigators and others who he thought would testify against him. }); There was no reason for the government to kill him, in haste or at all, Nolan said. Courtney Crowder, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. [7] Within a year, Honken and Cutkomp managed to produce several pounds of nearly pure meth, which they sold in northeast Iowa, primarily through two dealers: Terry DeGeus and Greg Nicholson. Outside the facility, protesters held press conferences, waved signs and live-tweeted every court development. During that first execution and those that followed, the prisoners ate sack lunches and box meals after the mess hall closed for the lockdown. Your subscription makes work like this possible. A federal judge who ordered two last-minute injunctions before other death row inmates were set to be killed this month declined to do so for Honken. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { 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. During separate trials in 2004 and 2005, Dustin Honken and Angela Johnson were each convicted of the murders and both were given the death penalty. [5] On November 20, 2019, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued a preliminary injunction preventing the resumption of federal executions. There was the electrocardiogram machine ($1,459) and EKG tape ($81.24), a suture kit ($470.88), a heating pad ($18.46), assorted medical supplies ($374.67) and an ultrasound rental ($2,000), likely to help find a vein if the usual arm veins proved difficult. "Honken has not demonstrated a likelihood of success on his claim that the 2019 Protocol is arbitrary and capricious based on its failure to consider the risk of flash pulmonary edema," the court of appeals wrote, citing language used in similar decisions. As part of an agreement, she agreed to drop all of her appeals. });
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