Oklahoma executes Rozelle Banks

Rozelle Banks

Anthony Rozelle Banks, 61, was executed today by lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester for the June 6, 1979, killing of Sun "Kim" Travis, 25. Travis was abducted from a Tulsa apartment complex parking lot, raped and shot in the head. Her body was found in a roadside ditch.

Banks was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m.

A corrections department spokesman, Jerry Massie, said Banks was served his final meal of three apple-filled bear claw pastries and two 16-ounce bottles of water at noon.

Banks and a co-defendant, Allen Wayne Nelson, 54, were charged in the victim's death in August 1997, when their DNA was detected in evidence found on Travis' body and clothing. A 12-member jury convicted Nelson of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison.

Banks was already in prison when he was linked to Travis' death after his conviction for the 1978 slaying of David Fremin, who was shot and killed during an armed robbery. He was serving a life prison sentence in that case.

Banks had asked that his daughter and a spiritual adviser, as well as his attorney and defense investigators, be present to witness his execution, scheduled for 6 p.m. No one from the victim's family attended.

A handful of execution opponents gathered outside the Oklahoma governor's mansion to protest the scheduled execution.

Source: AP, Sept. 10, 2013