James Knox was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Joseph Sanchez
According to court documents James Knox would rob a pharmacy in Galveston Texas demanding drugs. When the pharmacy owner Joseph Sanchez refused he was fatally shot
James Knox would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
James Knox would be executed by lethal injection on September 18 2001
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When Was James Knox Executed
James Knox was executed on September 18 2001
James Knox Case
oe’s Pharmacy Center in Galveston was one of those businesses longtime residents remember being there “forever.” It was the kind of place where locals would gather to visit — a “family” sort of place.
But on Nov. 10, 1982, it would become the scene of a murder as owner and pharmacist Joe Sanchez was shot and killed by an Alabama man who heads tonight to the state’s death chamber in Huntsville for his role in the slaying.
James Roy Knox, 50, is set to die by lethal injection after 6 p.m., condemned to death for Sanchez’s murder. He would be the 13th man executed in Texas this year, just 1 week after the execution of death row inmate Jeffrey Tucker was delayed because of terrorist attacks on Washington, D.C., which prevented the inmate access to the D.C.-based U.S. Supreme Court for last-minute appeals.
This is the fourth execution date Knox has faced since first arriving on death row in 1986.
Appeals made on Knox’s behalf were dismissed Monday by the Texas Court of Criminal appeals. The inmate, a former drywaller working in Houston at the time of the murder, declined all media interviews in the weeks leading up to his scheduled execution.
Sanchez’s son, Joey Sanchez, was 12 when his father was murdered. He, along with his mother, Linda, and an aunt and uncle, intend to witness the execution.
“I’m just ready for that part of this tragedy for my family to be over with,” he said. “I think about the day my dad was murdered every day. It’s something that will always be with me and I think for the man that killed him, it’s time that justice was served.
“It’s not going to bring my dad back, but my family’s not going to have to go through another day of (wondering if Knox could ever be released). There’s not going to be another day James Knox will wake up.” According to police reports, Knox entered the 45th Street pharmacy where Sanchez and his assistant, Ronald Dale Dyda, were preparing to close up for the day. Pointing a semiautomatic pistol at the duo, Knox demanded money and drugs.
When Sanchez refused to cooperate, Knox ordered Dyda to bind the pharmacist’s hands with medical tape. Sanchez still would not cooperate and Knox shot the man, striking him in the heart with a bullet that also severed his spine. Knox then pointed the gun at Dyda, again demanding money and “class A drugs.” Dyda gave the man $80 in cash and four bottles of Demerol, a highly addictive pain medication with a high street value, and the robber fled.
“Knox was apparently familiar with the pharmacy and thought it was an easy hit,” said Warren Goodson, chief of the Galveston County District Attorney’s Office’s Appellate Section. According to police reports, Knox and several accomplices actually had gone into the store several days before the murder to make note of what kind of security existed. Seeing there was little, Knox and accomplice George Holland returned on the day of the murders, with Holland driving the getaway car.
Holland was waiting in the car at the time of the murder. Shortly after he and Knox fled the scene, Knox told Holland, “The man got ignorant with me. I had to shoot him.” Holland later testified against Knox at trial, as did several eyewitnesses who saw Knox run from the pharmacy.
In 1985, Knox was convicted of capital murder and was sentenced to death, but that case was overturned in 1991, allowing for a 2nd trial. Knox again was convicted of Sanchez’s capital murder and in November 1994, was given a 2nd death sentence.
“I think he is a man who’s ready to go,” Goodson said, adding that the inmate waived most of his court appearances. “He did not really seem to have an interest in pursuing this much further — that was my impression of him.”
In the meantime, Joey Sanchez and his family are ready to see the case come to an end. “I’m glad this is finally going to be over with,” the younger Sanchez said, adding that in the last several days, his family has received a number of phone calls of support from Galveston residents who were friends with the slain pharmacist. Many were former customers who used to congregate at the pharmacy — now a video store — for afternoon visits, he said. “He was very loved. My dad was a great man. I think if anything, I’ve tried to live my life to be as good a man as he was. That’s how this affected me.”
Joey Sanchez said it was his father’s murder that largely influenced him to go to law school and ultimately, become a prosecutor. He practiced law for some time in California, recently moving to Houston while his wife attends medical school. “I was in law school during the 2nd trial although I sat through the 1st trial when I was 14 or 15,” he said. “I watched the prosecutors and I knew that I wanted to go to law school to help bring people to justice.”
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