Man accused in ballerina's death pleads not guilty

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ The man accused of killing University of Oklahoma dance student Jewell ``Juli'' Busken has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape and sodomy.

Thursday, March 31st 2005, 9:41 am

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ The man accused of killing University of Oklahoma dance student Jewell ``Juli'' Busken has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape and sodomy.

Anthony Castillo Sanchez, 26, was sent to state prison after entering the plea Wednesday before Cleveland County District Judge Tom Lucas. A pretrial motion hearing was set for Sept. 9 and he was placed on a trial docket that begins Oct. 17, but no specific date was set for trial.

Sanchez was serving prison time on unrelated burglary and escape convictions when a blood test showed his DNA matched DNA material found on Busken's body.

Sanchez has been held in the Cleveland County jail since being charged with Busken's killing last summer.

Court documents claim that Sanchez abducted Busken, 21, from the parking lot of her Norman apartment complex, took her to Lake Stanley Draper and then raped, sodomized and killed her Dec. 20, 1996.

Busken, 21, had just finished her last semester at OU and was preparing to go home to Benton, Ark., for the Christmas holidays when she was killed.

Police believe she was abducted in the early morning hours after having driven her roommate to Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City.