Tulsa Man Convicted In 1979 Murder Executed

A Tulsa man convicted of kidnapping, raping and killing a 25-year-old woman was put to death by injection.

It only took several minutes for Anthony Rozelle Banks, 61, to die by injection Tuesday evening at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Banks was sentenced to death 14 years ago.

When Banks was given his death sentence, he was already serving a life sentence for the April 11, 1978, killing a Tulsa convenience store clerk during an armed robbery.

Banks got the death penalty for a different murder, one that went unsolved for almost two decades.

On June 6, 1979, Sun "Kim" Travis was abducted from the parking lot of a Tulsa apartment complex, raped and shot in the head. Her body was found in a roadside ditch.

Eighteen years later, DNA testing linked Banks to Travis' rape and murder.

In the state penitentiary's execution chamber, it took Banks less than a minute to say his last words.

He told the room, "I can't express the terrible things I've done. I'm sorry. To know that I took lives hurts me, and I know it hurts the victim's family."

Banks also said, "I've done one good thing in my life and that's becoming a Jehovah's Witness," and, "This is justified."

Corrections officials say none of Sun Travis's family members were at the execution. Four people invited by Banks came to the execution: his daughter, spiritual advisor, attorney and an investigator.

In July, Banks waived his right to seek a clemency from the state Pardon and Parole Board.

His last meal was three apple-filled bear claws and two 16-oz. bottles of water.

This is the fourth execution by injection this year. Fifty-five people remain on death row in Oklahoma.

7/12/2013 Related Story: Oklahoma Death Row Inmate Waives Right To Clemency Hearing