Man Who Killed 5 Is Sentenced to Death

A drug dealer convicted of killing five people -- including two children -- to protect his methamphetamine operation was sentenced in Cedar Rapids to die by lethal injection, becoming the first person in more than 40 years to receive a death sentence in the state.

Dustin Honken, 37, insisted he was innocent, accused U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett of being on a “death agenda” and called his prosecutors magicians and tricksters who won their case by stoking the jury’s passions.

“I have committed many wrongs ... but never have I taken another life,” he said.