*This is the condensed version (225 words) of the original “Anthony Sanchez: The Innocence Report” (4000 words)
On December 20, 1996, the body of accomplished ballerina Juli Busken was found floating in the shallow water of Lake Stanley Draper, right outside of Norman, Oklahoma. For years after the incident, the murder went unsolved. Then, state authorities miraculously matched DNA from the scene with DNA in a database of convicted felons. As a result of the sensational turn of events, Anthony Sanchez was summarily tried and convicted of the murder of Busken. During the trial, the DNA evidence was held up to be a 100% match. Now, we know the truth. Not only was Sanchez not a 100% match, we now know that the DNA results were mishandled and possibly even manipulated to achieve such a result. The simple fact that current analysis of the State’s DNA results would make Sanchez a 30% match to Busken (usually signifying a cousin or close familiar relation) should be enough to cause tremendous suspicion. Perhaps most tellingly, the sketch that two eyewitnesses helped draw of Busken’s abductor looked much more like Anthony Sanchez’s father Glenn than it did Anthony. Furthermore, Glenn had a much more pronounced and documented propensity for violence against women than Anthony. Despite these facts and a variety of others that undermines Anthony Sanchez’s conviction, he is scheduled to be executed September 21, 2023. Alarmingly, the State of Oklahoma seems to have little concern that it might be about to execute a demonstrably innocent man.
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