Death Row Inmate's Attorneys File Motions Hoping to Exonerate Client

The attorneys for an Oklahoma man set to be executed this year filed documents in hopes of presenting evidence that they said would exonerate their client, Anthony Sanchez.

Sanchez was convicted in 2006 of raping and killing Juli Busken. The University of Oklahoma ballerina vanished Dec. 20, 1996 from her apartment in Norman. Her body was found hours later on the shores of Lake Stanley Draper. Sanchez was scheduled to be executed on Sept. 21, 2023.

"The family of Juli Busken deserves the truth," said Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, the spiritual advisor for Sanchez.

On Friday, Sanchez's attorneys filed an application for post-conviction relief with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals, including a motion for discovery and a motion for an evidentiary hearing. The attorneys said they wanted to present evidence to show Sanchez was innocent in Busken's death. Rather, they argued that Sanchez' father, Thomas Glen Sanchez, was responsible for the murder.

 "Anthony Sanchez was left to rot on death row in the state of Oklahoma," Hood said.

Although the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had a DNA cold hit linking Sanchez to Busken, Sanchez's attorneys argued there was not enough evidence implicating him in the murder.

"I don't know if you know about 2004 and DNA, but this was a very early moment in DNA and 100% match from what would have been fragmented DNA is incredibly rare," said Hood.

The attorneys wrote in the documents that Sanchez had not been a suspect in Busken's murder for more than seven years prior to the cold hit. They also argued that there was no evidence that Sanchez and Busken even knew each other. The attorneys said even though a former home of Sanchez had a bullet in a wall with a rifling pattern similar to that of the bullet that killed Busken, the pattern was common, citing a state expert.

Furthermore, Sanchez's attorneys wrote that there was evidence excluding their client entirely. In the documents, the attorneys said Busken's car - which was seen traveling to and from the area where her body was discovered - had 49 fingerprints, but none matched with Sanchez. The attorneys also said a witness recounted Busken being with a man several years older than her when heading to the lake. But when she died, she was in her early 20s while Sanchez had just turned 18, his attorneys wrote.

In addition, Sanchez's attorneys said a sketch made with the help of a witness resembled Sanchez's father, Thomas Glen Sanchez. They wrote in the documents that in December 2022, the girlfriend of Thomas came forward and said Thomas confessed to the murder. She claimed she previously was too scared of Thomas to discuss the matter, the attorneys said. But Thomas passed away in April 2022.

"I believe that if we, if this evidence gets a fair hearing, a fair review, then I have no doubt that it will prove that Anthony Sanchez is innocent," Hood said.

Anthony Sanchez himself released a statement via the group Death Penalty Action.

"(Friday), my legal team filed an application for post-conviction relief on my behalf proclaiming my innocence," Sanchez said in the statement. "The family of Juli Busken deserves to know the truth. I'm so thankful to my spiritual advisor Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood, attorney Mark Barrett, attorney Greg Gardner, investigator David Ballard and his team, friends Alli Sullivan and Abe Bonowitz of Death Penalty Action, and a number of others for helping bring this moment about." 

News 9 reached out to Busken's father, who said he did not want to comment on filing of the post-conviction relief until he had time to learn more. Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Office said it would not comment on pending litigation.