In a major development in a decades-old murder case, Anthony Sanchez was executed in Oklahoma on Thursday for the 1996 killing of Juli Busken, a University of Oklahoma dance student. Sanchez, 44, was convicted in 2006 after his DNA was matched to the crime scene while he was serving a prison sentence for burglary. The execution took place at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and involved a three-drug injection.

Despite maintaining his innocence throughout the trial and after his conviction, Sanchez chose not to present a clemency application to the state's Pardon and Parole Board. Many saw this as his last opportunity to spare his life. Speaking from the death chamber, Sanchez proclaimed his innocence, stating, "I'm innocent. I didn't kill nobody." He also criticized his former attorneys and expressed gratitude towards his supporters, including his spiritual adviser and the anti-death penalty group Death Penalty Action.

The execution began at around 10:08 a.m., with the administration of the sedative midazolam. At one point, an execution team member entered the chamber to reattach a malfunctioning oxygen monitor. Despite a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court by his new lawyer, Eric Allen, the request for a stay of execution was rejected. Allen had argued that he needed more time to review the evidence in the case.

Juli Busken, a 21-year-old dance student from Benton, Arkansas, was abducted from the parking lot of her Norman apartment complex on December 20, 1996. Her body was discovered near Lake Stanley Draper in southeastern Oklahoma City later that day. She had been bound, raped, and shot in the head. Busken, who had performed as a ballerina during her time at the University of Oklahoma, was memorialized on campus with a dance scholarship in her name at the College of Fine Arts.

Years after the murder, Sanchez's DNA was found to match the sperm found on Busken's clothing at the crime scene. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 2006. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond maintained that the DNA evidence conclusively linked Sanchez to the killing. In a letter to a state representative, Drummond stated that the odds of randomly selecting an individual with the same genetic profile as Sanchez were 1 in 94 trillion among Southwest Hispanics.

However, a private investigator hired by an anti-death penalty group argued that the DNA evidence may have been contaminated and that there were issues with how the evidence was presented during the trial. Former Cleveland County District Attorney Tim Kuykendall, who was involved in the case, defended the conviction, stating that there was no evidence pointing to anyone other than Anthony Sanchez.

Sanchez's execution marks the third in Oklahoma this year and the 10th since the state resumed carrying out the death penalty in 2021 after a six-year moratorium. The state had suspended executions due to concerns about its execution methods after a series of incidents in 2014 and 2015, including the use of the wrong lethal drug in two executions. The next scheduled execution in Oklahoma is set for November 30 when Phillip Hancock will receive a lethal injection for a double murder in Oklahoma City in 2001.

While none of Busken's family members attended Thursday's execution, Oklahoma Attorney General Drummond stated that they had found closure and peace. However, Sanchez's execution has also raised questions about the death penalty and the reliability of DNA evidence in criminal cases. The debate surrounding the use of capital punishment continues to be a contentious issue in the United States.