George John Hanson – white, age 34 (re-sentence after an appellate reversal)
Sentenced to death in Tulsa County, Oklahoma
By: A jury
Date of crime: 1999
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Hanson was convicted in 2001 for the kidnapping and murder of Mary Bowles. Hanson claimed that accomplice Victor Miller was responsible for killing Bowles. Miller was also convicted, but is awaiting a retrial, of killing Jerald Thurman during the same crime. Oklahoma Court of Appeals overturned original sentence finding for an accumulation of error during the trial.
Prosecutor(s): Bill Musseman Defense lawyer(s): Jack Gordon, Jr., Steve Hightower
Sources: Tulsa World 1/25/06, 3/5/06, 3/21/06; Associated Press 2/8/06
Randal Hunt – white, age 44
Sentenced to death in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma
By: A jury
Date of Crime: February 14, 2004
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Hunt stabbed his girlfriend Wynona Reames to death with ten stab wounds. He claimed while they were both drunk, she had come at him with two knives, and that he was defending himself.
Prosecutor(s): Defense Lawyer(s):
Sources: The Oklahoman 5/10/06 (LEXIS USPAPR file), 6/1/06 (LEXIS USPAPR file).
Anthony Castillo Sanchez – Latino, age 18
Sentenced to death in Cleveland County, Oklahoma
By: A jury
Date of crime: December 1996
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Sanchez was convicted of raping and killing college student Juli Busken. The case had been cold for years until a DNA profile from Busken’s clothing was matched to Sanchez in 2004 when he entered the prison profiling system after a burglary conviction. Sanchez proclaimed his innocence, and told the judge he wanted his attorneys fired numerous times because they were not presenting evidence he thought would help him. Sanchez was represented by attorney Joe Robertson at sentencing. At sentencing, defense introduced evidence of Sanchez’s mother being a drug addict and abandoning him at 18 months of age.
Prosecutor(s): Richard Sitzman, Tim Kuykendall Defense lawyer(s): Diane Box, Silas Lyman
Sources: The Daily Oklahoman 2/17/06, 2/1806, 6/7/06; Associated Press 2/17/06, 6/7/06
Jeremy Williams – black, age 21
Sentenced to death in Tulsa County, Oklahoma
By: A jury
Date of crime: June 2004
Prosecution’s case/defense response: Williams, along with Alvin Jordan and Chris Jordan, robbed a bank and shot three people. Teller Amber Rogers was fatally wounded, while the other two survived their injuries. During the trial, Williams contended that he had robbed the same bank with an empty gun just six weeks earlier, so there was no way he would go back to that location. Both Alvin and Chris Jordan are awaiting trial.
Prosecutor(s): Bill Musseman, Tim Harris Defense lawyer(s): Carla Mullins Root
Sources: Associated Press 3/3/06; Tulsa World 3/4/06, 3/7/06, 3/21/06