Missouri executes man convicted of fatally shooting state trooper 20 years ago

A Missouri man convicted of fatally shooting a state trooper 20 years ago was executed Tuesday.

Lance Shockley, 48, was killed by lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre shortly after 6 p.m.

Shockley, who long maintained his innocence, was convicted of murdering Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr. in March 2005. Prosecutors said Graham waited for hours near his Van Buren home, then shot him first with a rifle and then with a shotgun when he got out of his police patrol car.

In the death chamber, Shockley’s head was raised on a pillow. He looked up and spoke to his loved ones in the witness room to his left. A woman appeared through the soundproof glass trying to talk to him.

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After about 90 seconds, Shockley laid his head on the pillow and appeared to stop talking.

Shockley’s last visitors Tuesday morning were his two daughters and a friend, according to prison officials. His last meal consisted of three packets of oatmeal, peanut butter, water and two sports drinks.

In his final written statement, Shockley quoted a passage from the Bible from the Book of John: “So now you too have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.”

Shockley’s objections and request for a new trial were denied. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his latest appeals early Tuesday.

On Monday, Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe rejected the pardon request.

“Violence against those who risk their lives every day to protect our communities will never be tolerated. Missouri stands with our men and women in uniform,” Kehoe said in a statement. he said.

Members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol salute the body of fellow officer Sgt. Carl ”Dewayne” Graham Jr. after his funeral service in Dexter, Missouri, on March 24, 2005. (AP)

Shockley was convicted in March 2009 and sentenced to death two months later. Prosecutors said he killed Sergeant Graham because he was investigating Shockley for manslaughter after he left the scene of a fatal crash that killed his best friend.

Jeremy Weis, one of Shockley’s attorneys, said prosecutors failed to show direct evidence linking his client to the murder.

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“The state’s case remains circumstantial,” Weis said last week while discussing the case at the University of Missouri School of Law. “The murder weapons were never found. There were disagreements among the ballistics experts hired by the prosecution.”

Witnesses placed Shockley about 14 miles from Graham’s home when prosecutors said the trooper waited near his home.

Lance Shockley was convicted in March 2009 and sentenced to death two months later. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Prosecutors countered that Shockley asked where Graham lived before the murder and said he was trying to dispose of a box of .243-caliber ammunition around the time of the crime, according to court documents.

Shockley became the first person executed in Missouri this year, and no further executions are scheduled for the remainder of 2025. The state’s last execution was carried out on December 3, 2024, when Christopher Collings was executed for the sexual assault and murder of a 9-year-old girl.

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Shockley was one of two people executed in the United States on Tuesday. 72-year-old Samuel Lee Smithers died by lethal injection for the murder of two women whose bodies were found in a pond in Florida in 1996, bringing the record number of executions in the Sunshine State this year to 14.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.