Police on Thursday revealed the last words of a man executed by the state of Oklahoma for raping and murdering a University of Oklahoma dance student in 1996, the New York Post reported.
According to reports, authorities administered three lethal injections to Anthony Sanchez, 44, at 10:19 a.m. at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and pronounced him dead. post. “I’m innocent. I didn’t kill anyone,” Sanchez said as he was strapped to a stretcher in the death chamber, criticizing his former lawyer and thanking his supporters, the Post reported. reported. (Related: Man convicted of murder in 22-year-old cold case)
Anthony Sanchez, 44, was executed in 1996 for the murder of a University of Oklahoma dance student. https://t.co/4WAyckvQhl pic.twitter.com/xeUaat0Bvu
— New York Post (@nypost) September 21, 2023
Sanchez was convicted of killing Juli Busken, 21, a University of Oklahoma student who had just finished her final semester, before being abducted from her apartment complex on December 20, 1996. . fox news report. The crime went unsolved for years until DNA found at the crime scene matched Sanchez, who is serving a prison sentence for robbery, the paper said.
Busken, whose body was found bound, raped and shot in the head near a lake outside Oklahoma City, had been performing as a ballerina at OU, Fox News reported. Basken was convicted and sentenced to death in 2006 after authorities matched DNA from sperm on Basken’s clothing to Sanchez’s, the newspaper reported.
Sanchez has long maintained his innocence, and earlier this year he again professed his innocence in a phone call to The Associated Press from death row, the paper said.
“It’s fabricated DNA,” Sanchez said. “That’s fake DNA. That’s not my DNA. I’ve been saying that since day one.”
Sanchez’s lawyer, Eric Allen, asked for a stay of execution in federal court, arguing that Sanchez needed to see more evidence, the newspaper reported. The court denied the request just before Thursday’s execution.
None of Busken’s family was present at the execution, but state Attorney General Gentner Drummond said Busken spoke with them numerous times in the months leading up to the execution, Fox News reported. Ta.
“Juli was murdered 26 years, nine months and one day ago. The family has found closure and peace,” Drummond said.
Sanchez was the 10th inmate executed in Oklahoma since the state resumed the death penalty in 2021, the newspaper reported.
