TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The government on Friday put to death a methamphetamine kingpin convicted of killing five people, the third execution by the federal government in a week.
Dustin Honken, 52, who prosecutors said killed key witnesses to stop them from testifying in his drug case, received a lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute. Two others were also put to death during the week after a hiatus of nearly 20 years.
The first in the trio of 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 Wesley Purkey's on Thursday, 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.
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."
In a statement, Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec said "just punishment has been carried out."
"Nearly three decades after Honken coldly ended the lives of five people, including two young girls, all in an effort to protect himself and his criminal enterprise, he has finally faced justice," Kupec said.
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 innocent plea.
A statement from the Duncan family released minutes after Honken was put to death said the execution provided a degree of justice and closure to the family.
The two young Duncan girls "never had a chance to grow up and share in the joys and sorrows of their life," it said. "Their mother never got to see them having their first dance, first date or first walk down the aisle at their wedding."
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. 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.
