FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — A federal appeals court has upheld the death sentence of a Kentucky man convicted nearly 40 years ago for fatally shooting two men at a Richmond general store, Attorney General Russell Coleman announced on Thursday.
David Sanders has been on death row since 1987, when he was convicted of the double homicide at the Boone Variety Store in Madison County, Kentucky. His most recent appeal was rejected Tuesday by a 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit — one step below the U.S. Supreme Court, Coleman detailed.
Sanders has lost repeated appeals in state and federal courts over the decades.
By his own admission, Coleman reported that Sanders shot two men at the store in 1987. He had entered the store, purchased orange juice and candy, and used the store's pay phone before leaving. Moments later, he returned armed with a gun he had retrieved from his car.
Sanders approached the store's counter where the owner was standing with his back toward him, a release from Coleman read. Sanders shot him in the back of the head. When another customer entered the store, Sanders shot that man too. He took money from both men and then left.
A customer who walked in shortly after described a "horrific scene." Behind the counter, Jim Brandenburg lay slumped over. Near the door, Wayne Hatch was face down, gurgling in a pool of his blood.
Coleman said the ruling clears the way for justice in the case.
"Decades after a judge and jury sentenced this criminal to death, he continues to do all he can to delay his sentence. While these appeals may stall that sentence, they don't erase the verdict and we are grateful for a ruling that clears the way for long-overdue justice," Coleman said.
