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GREENWOOD Dist. — On Thursday, September 21, the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (OK-CADP) asks the public to join them at the Anthony Sanchez Oklahoma “Don’t Kill For Me” demonstration in protest of his scheduled execution in Oklahoma. We will hold the demonstration that morning at 10 a.m. in front of the Governor’s Mansion, located at 820 NE 23rd Street at Phillips Avenue in Oklahoma City.
In addition, participants will start a silent vigil at 10:00 a.m. and will continue it until they receive notice of a stay of execution or the execution takes place. The vigil will conclude with a circle prayer. If we postpone or cancel the execution, we will cancel the demonstration.
In 2006, a Cleveland County jury formally sentenced Mr. Sanchez to death. A 44-year-old member of the Choctaw Nation had been convicted of the 1996 rape and murder of Jewell ‘Juli’ Busken, a 21-year-old student at the University of Oklahoma.
In April, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals rejected a request from Sanchez for an evidentiary hearing. In this hearing, however, he claimed that his late father, Thomas Glen Sanchez, was the actual killer of Juli Busken.
Anthony Sanchez Oklahoma
In June 2023, Sanchez, who maintains his innocence, declared that “the process is unfair”. Moreover, he announced his decision to waive his opportunity to appear in front of the Oklahoma State Pardon and Parole Board. The board had scheduled a clemency hearing for early August.
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“There are lots of unanswered questions about the Sanchez case,” said Rev. Don Heath, OK-CADP chair. Nevertheless, “A DNA match in a cold case is the only evidence the prosecutors had. I don’t know whether Sanchez committed this crime. The prosecutors don’t either if they were being candid.”
Meanwhile, Oklahoma has executed nine people since resuming executions in October 2021 after a six-year moratorium. Notably, Oklahoma will execute Anthony Sanchez, making him the tenth person to be executed in the state.
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