A man sentenced to death by lethal injection for the abduction, rape and murder of Cowley County Community College dance team member Jodi Sanderholm is expected to be back in a Winfield courtroom for the first time in nearly a decade.
Responding to an inquiry Thursday, via email, the Director of Communications for the Kansas Attorney General’s Office told KSOK-NewsCow a transport order has been filed for Justin Thurber to appear in Cowley County District Court for a hearing to determine if he is intellectually disabled under current legal standards.
The hearing is at 10 a.m. on Nov. 30.
Since his conviction, Thurber has been imprisoned at the El Dorado Correctional Facility and is one of 10 in Kansas on death row.
This summer, the Kansas Supreme Court decided on an appeal filed by Thurber and upheld his convictions – but postponed the ruling on the appeal of his death sentence, citing the need to determine whether or not he is intellectually disabled.
Sanderholm was 19 when she was murdered in January 2007. A jury found Thurber, now 35, guilty of the charges against him, including capital murder, and he was sentenced to death by lethal injection on March 20, 2009.
Sanderholm was declared missing on Jan. 5, 2007, following a morning practice for the Tigerette dance team. According to court records, Ark City police immediately suspected Thurber as an abductor. On Jan. 7, after questioning Thurber, detectives found matching impressions of his shoes in the Kaw Wildlife Area in Cowley County and later found personal items — including clothing — belonging to Sanderholm before her body was discovered in a wood pile. On Jan. 9, authorities found her car submerged in the Cowley County State Fishing Lake.
The State presented DNA evidence connecting Thurber to Sanderholm’s car and her body. Friends and acquaintances of both Sanderholm and Thurber said he’d followed them and made uncomfortable unannounced appearances. One fellow dance team member of Sanderholm testified he’d left a random love note and flower on her car. Dance members also identified him and his car as often being near practices.
The day before he was sentenced, Thurber asked a Cowley County judge to find that he suffered from an intellectual disability. His attorney claimed Thurber had a low IQ.
Prosecutors, however, cited the fact Thurber had completed 64 credit hours of college courses. Ultimately, the judge refused his request.
In the 5-2 decision by the Kansas Supreme Court, responding to Thurber’s appeal in June, it was determined a review of Thurber’s intellectual state is necessary due to the changing perceptions of the definition of intellectual disability since the Cowley court’s ruling. It also noted 2016 revisions concerning the definition that required retroactive reviews of the designation if presented in court.
The state’s high court remanded the case to Cowley County Dist. Court for determination of Thurber’s current intellectual state. Officials with the AG’s office said they did not have an estimate as to how long the hearing for Thurber might take.
“We feel compelled to point out the problems we identify on the intellectual disability determination were not of the district court’s making,” the Kansas Supreme Court stated in its conclusion in June. “That court was operating under now outdated state statutes and federal caselaw. And although the district court seems to have considered Thurber’s evidence unimpeded by any barriers regarding IQ test scores or the capacity to appreciate the criminality of one’s conduct, the court necessarily was applying an invalid statutory definition for ‘intellectual disability’ when determining if Thurber can be executed. We have no choice but to reverse the district court’s reason-to-believe determination and remand for reconsideration based on current constitutional parameters.”
If Thurber is found to be intellectually disabled, he will serve life in prison without parole.
