Brian Davis was executed by the State of Oklahoma for the murder of Josephine Sanford
According to court documents Brian Davis would return to his home and find his girlfriend and daughter gone. He would call Josephine Sanford, his girlfriends mother, asking where she was. Josephine Sanford would go over to the home where she would be sexually assaulted and murdered
Brian Davis would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Brian Davis would be executed by lethal injection on June 25 2013
Brian Davis Photos
Brian Davis FAQ
When Was Brian Davis Executed
Brian Davis was executed on June 25 2013
Brian Davis Case
A death row inmate at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary was executed Tuesday evening in the prison’s death chamber.
Brian Darrell Davis, 38, had requested no special last meal for his execution day. He ate what the other offenders at OSP had for dinner, said OSP Warden’s Assistant Terry Crenshaw. “BBQ bologna, bread, rice, cookies and lemonade.”
Witnessing the execution were three media representatives, one of Davis’s attorneys, Kay County Sheriff Everette Vanhoesen and an Oklahoma Department of Corrections representative.
The execution procedures began at 6:19 p.m. and OSP Warden Anita Trammell asked Davis if he would like to say any last words.
“Yes, I would,” Davis said. “First I would like to say I would like to give the glory to God.” Davis then began quoting biblical scripture. “I shall not die, but live,” he said. “His word is will and let His will be done. I give God the last word — Psalm 119: 17 and 18.”
Davis then quoted more scripture and finished his last statement when he said, “Thank you.”
At 6:20 p.m., Trammell said, “Let the execution begin.”
At 6:21 p.m., Davis’s breathing became labored. His body shuttered and his eyes closed.
At 6:25 p.m. an attending physician pronounced Davis’s time of death.
Earlier this month, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 to recommend granting clemency to Davis.
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt released a statement on June 7 in which he denounced the board’s clemency vote and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin denied the recommendation, saying that Davis is to be executed as scheduled.
“This convicted murderer lured his estranged girlfriend’s mother to his apartment and then brutally raped her, broke her jaw, stabbed her six times, puncturing her abdomen, and left her for dead while he drove around in her van,” Pruitt said. “He does not deserve our pity or clemency, and it is incomprehensible that four members of the pardon and parole board would usurp the judgment of a jury and deny this family justice.”
Of the last 11 death row inmates set for execution in Oklahoma, the board voted to recommend clemency only one other time, for Garry Thomas Allen. As with Davis, Fallin did not approve the board’s recommendation and Allen was executed Nov. 6, 2012.
Davis is the second death row inmate set for execution this month. James Lewis DeRosa, 36, was put to death via lethal injection on June 18. The board did not recommend clemency for DeRosa.
Both DeRosa and Davis opted to make no last meal requests.
In fact, both offenders made no requests at all, Crenshaw said. This includes last meal requests as well as requests for visitors on execution day. Crenshaw said the fact that the two inmates chose to make no last meal requests is quite out of the ordinary. Davis and DeRosa were cell mates, Crenshaw said.
On April 15, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Davis’s final appeal and Pruitt requested an execution date be set.
Davis was convicted of the Nov. 4, 2001, rape and murder of 52-year-old Josephine “Jody” Sanford.
“In January 2003, Davis was found guilty by a jury for the November 2001 first-degree murder and rape of his girlfriend’s mother, Jody Sanford, 52, of Ponca City,” Pruitt said in a press release. “He was sentenced to death for the murder and 100 years for rape.”
According to court records, Davis returned home in the early morning hours of Nov. 4, 2001, after socializing with friends at a local club. When he arrived home, he found that his girlfriend, Stacey Sanford, and their 3-year-old daughter were missing.
Davis called Jody Sanford, Stacey Sanford’s mother, to ask if she knew were his girlfriend and daughter were, court records state. “When Jody could not locate her daughter and granddaughter, she went to Stacey’s and Davis’s apartment.”
Davis made several conflicting statements regarding what happened while Jody Sanford was in his home. According to court records, he changed his story multiple times and told different stories to his girlfriend, to police and to the jury at his trial. Court records indicate that Davis did admit to having sex with and stabbing Jody Sanford.
When Stacey Sanford arrived home shortly after 9 a.m., she found her mother’s body. “Stacey (Sanford) immediately called 911 and local police arrived to investigate,” court records state. “Meanwhile, Davis had been involved in a single-car accident while driving Jody’s van near the Salt Fork River Bridge. Davis was seriously injured after he was ejected from the van through the front windshield. Davis was transported to a local hospital for treatment.”
Because Davis had a blood alcohol level of .09 percent, he was placed under arrest for driving under the influence and was later transferred to a regional hospital in Wichita, Kan., for treatment for injuries he sustained in the car accident.
According to Pruitt, Jody Sanford had been beaten and stabbed six times and DNA evidence showed Davis had raped her.
Davis had been in custody with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections since March 17, 2003.