He suspected that Honken had killed Nicholson and was afraid of being wrongfully accused of murder. While in jail, Honken confessed to fellow inmates that he'd killed witnesses from an earlier case. 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. [7] Another inmate said Honken killed "rats" and children "raised by rats". [] Thought I'd have nightmares. ", "The reason for us being present today was not to watch a man die. Courtney Crowder, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Dustin switched to methamphetamine, enlisting the help of his best friend, Tim Cutkomp, and moved to Arizona to set up his drug empire. [5] Cutkomp wore a wire while he was around Honken during their time on pretrial release. Investigation Discoverys Murder in the Heartland: Invitation To Be Killed chronicles how a meth kingpin, Dustin Lee Honken, killed two informants and their loved ones to prevent them from testifying against him in his federal drug trial. [24] Tokars testified that Honken described strangling Lori Duncan and Greg Nicholson, and killed the children since "they could have been witnesses." Prisoner Keith Nelson's execution is set to take place on August 28.] Her memoir, "Corrections in Ink", came out in June 2022. "He recognized and repented for the crimes he had committed, and spent his time in prison atoning for them," Nolan said in a statement. I will be in touch shortly. is a staff writer whose book, "Let the Lord Sort Them: The Rise and Fall of the Death Penalty," won the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Work-In-Progress Book Award. Honken, who had been on death row since 2005, was pronounced dead at 4:36 p.m. A second bank robbery would land himin prison, where he would regale his frequently visiting sons with tales of his criminal exploits. "[7][15], After Cutkomp gave the recordings to federal investigators, Honken's bond was revoked. Dustin Lee Honken was born in Britt, Iowa, on March 22, 1968, and suffered from an abusive childhood. She told them about Honken's and Johnson's search for Nicholson and that she had seen the pistol used in the 1993 murders in Johnson's closet before it was destroyed. 3d 937", "From meth to murder: How a small-town Iowa boy became the state's first death row inmate in 50 years", "FindLaw's United States Eighth Circuit case and opinions", "Witnesses Testify about Honken's Drug Operation", "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. ANGELA JOHNSON", "184 F3d 961 United States of America v. Dustin Lee Honken", "Fred Tokars, lawyer who set up murder of his wife, dies in prison", "OPINION: Maybe wife-killer Fred Tokars got a fate worse than death", "Iowa meth kingpin is 3rd executed by US government this week", "Johnson v. United States, 860 F. Supp. Although Iowa abolished capital punishment in 1965, the crime was a federal case since it involved a continuing criminal enterprise. [7] Cutkomp recorded Honken talking about his plans to kill witnesses and implicitly referenced killing witnesses in 1993. They sentenced him to death specifically for the brutality and senselessness of the childrens killings. Johnson gave him written notes and a map revealing the locations of the victim's bodies. In 2004, Dustin Lee Honken was . [16], On June 2, 1997, Honken pleaded guilty to attempting to distribute meth and conspiring to manufacture and distribute meth. We owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind, to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system, Attorney General William P. Barr said in a statement. [36], 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. Anytime we needed anything, we were supposed to ask them, he said. Honken would become the first defendant from Iowa to die from capital punishment since 1963 if his lethal injection takes place as scheduled on Friday, July 17, 2020 in Terre Haute, Ind. After a two-month-long trial, the jury found him guilty on all 17 counts. Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965, but Honken was convicted in federal court becausehe killed government witnesses, interfering with a federal case. Dustin earned a scholarship to North Iowa Area Community College in 1991 and had initially planned to become a pharmaceutical lawyer. More: From meth to murder: How a small-town Iowa boy became the state's first death row inmate in 50 years. Jim once convinced his son to steal and copy a key to a bank. He had been found guilty of murdering five people, including two.

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