Man set to be executed for 1996 slaying of University of Oklahoma dance student

By SEAN MURPHY
Associated Press

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma is readying to execute a man for the 1996 slaying of a University of Oklahoma dance student. Forty-four-year-old Anthony Sanchez is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday morning at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Shortly before the scheduled execution time Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his attorney’s request for a stay. Sanchez was convicted in 2006 of raping and killing 21-year-old Juli Busken. The student from Benton, Arkansas, was abducted on Dec. 20, 1996, from her Norman apartment complex. Her body was found later that evening. She had been raped and shot in the head. The case went unsolved for years until crime scene DNA matched Sanchez while he was serving time for burglary.