SAN QUENTIN — Anthony J. Sully, housed at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center on condemned status, died of natural causes Sept. 8, 2023. He was 79.
Sully was pronounced deceased at 2:21 a.m. at an outside medical facility. Marin Coroner’s Office will determine his official cause of death.
Sully was sentenced to death in San Mateo County on June 3, 1986 for the murders of Kathryn Barrett, 24; Barbara Searcy, 22; Gloria Jean Fravel, 24, Brendan Oakden, 19; Michael Thomas 24, and Phyllis Melendez, 20. He was admitted to San Quentin’s death row on June 15, 1986.
There are currently 654 condemned persons in CDCR. More information about capital punishment in California can be found here: https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/.
San Quentin opened in 1852 in Marin County. The institution provides long-term housing for 3,625 minimum- and maximum-custody male incarcerated people and employs approximately 1,800 people. The state has not carried out an execution in 17 years. The last execution was that of Clarence Ray Allen held on Jan. 17, 2006. On March 13, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Executive Order N-09-19, instituting a moratorium on the death penalty in California. In March 2023, Governor Newsom announced the transformation of San Quentin State Prison into San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.
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Contact: OPEC Press Office OPEC@cdcr.ca.gov