David Ralph Sanchez was 31 when he was killed in Paisley, Oregon, on December 1, 1979. A deputy with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office for six months after a decade with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, he was a married father of a son and a daughter and described as gentle and respected in the small community.

Deputy Sanchez was working a high school dance when he arrested a man named Richard Emery. After the arrest a violent confrontation on the highway south of town left Sanchez shot seventeen times; ten rounds were fired into his back as he lay dying. Emery was arrested and initially charged with murder. He later pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, received a ten-year prison sentence, and was paroled after serving less than five years. The 1977 Ford pickup truck tied to the incident, owned by Emery and his mother, was seized and partially dismantled for ballistic testing.