Oklahoma Set to Execute Brutal Murderer

A federal judge has refused to stay the September 21 execution of Oklahoma killer Anthony Sanchez for the 1996 rape and murder of 21-year-old Juli Busken.  Dylan Goforth of the Frontier reports that while detectives found DNA on the victims underwear and pajamas, they were unable to find a match until 2004 after a DNA sample was taken from Sanchez while he was in prison for a burglary conviction.   His sample matched the DNA found on the victim.  Two years later Sanchez was convicted on overwhelming evidence and sentenced to death.  On September 13, a federal district judge denied his request for a stay.  Last Spring Newsweek published an article claiming that years ago, Sanchez’s now-deceased father told his ex-girlfriend that he killed Juli Busken.  The odds of the DNA match being incorrect are 1 in 94 trillion for Southwest Hispanics.  Update:  Sanchez was pronounced dead at 10:19 am Thursday morning.

According to Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, at 5:30 am on December 20, 1996, Juli Busken, a just graduated ballerina, was returning to her college town apartment after driving her roommate to the airport.  As she parked her car, three people heard a scream from the parking lot and one heard and a man’s voice order someone to get into the car.  When her neighbors went to investigate, Busken’s red Eagle Summit with Arkansas plates was gone.  Her body was found by a nearby lake that evening.  She had been beaten, raped and shot in the head.   At trial a witness testified to seeing a small red car by the lake at about 6:45 am, with a man fitting Sanchez’s description behind the wheel and a young woman passenger who looked frightened.  Another witness testified to seeing a red car with Arkansas plates driving away from the lake at around 7:15 am with a man driving and no passenger.  Late that evening police found the car parked across the street from Busken’s apartment.  Her cell phone and several other items were missing.   A sperm sample was taken from pajama bottoms found in the car and from the victim’s underwear.  The next day police traced three calls placed from Busken’s phone.  One of the calls was to Sanchez’s ex-girlfriend.

Absent a last-minute stay from an appellate court, next Thursday Sanchez will be the 18th murderer executed in the U.S. this year.  At this point in 2022, ten murderers had been executed.