Missouri man who maintains innocence set to be executed for killing state trooper
A Missouri man will be executed Tuesday for fatally shooting a state trooper more than 20 years ago.
Lance Shockley He was reprimanded for killing Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr. in March 2005. Prosecutors said Shockley waited for hours near the trooper’s Van Buren home in southeast Missouri after Graham got out of his patrol car, then shot him with a rifle and shotgun.
Shockley, 48, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri, after 6 p.m. local time.
This is one of two executions scheduled to take place in Florida in the US on Tuesday evening. Samuel Lee Smithers(72) will be subjected to lethal injection for killing two women whose bodies were found in a rural pond in 1996.
GOP Gov. Mike Kehoe turned down Shockley’s request for a pardon on Monday.
“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.
Last week, the Missouri Supreme Court denied a request to stay Shockley’s execution until a lower state appeals court rules on a petition from Shockley’s attorneys requesting DNA testing of evidence found at the scene. Jeremy Weis, one of Shockley’s attorneys, said Monday that the lower appeals court is unlikely to rule on the request for DNA testing before Tuesday’s execution. Shockley’s attorneys say much of this evidence has never been tested and could help exonerate Shockley.
“Even a small chance of acquittal is sufficient to warrant testing,” Shockley’s lawyers said in court documents.
Shockley’s attorneys also argued that his First Amendment rights were violated because the Missouri Department of Corrections prohibited his daughter from owning him. spiritual advisor during execution. His lawyers also cited this claim when asking the federal appeals court to stay his execution. In March 2022, The US Supreme Court ruled States should allow spiritual advisors to attend prisoners in the death chamber.
Missouri officials argued that state prison policy prevents family members from having direct contact with inmates during executions because of safety concerns that they could interfere with the process.
Authorities said Shockley shot Graham because state police were investigating him for involuntary manslaughter after he left the scene of a fatal crash in which Shockley’s best friend was killed. Prosecutors said Shockley borrowed from his grandmother the red Pontiac Grand Am that was seen near Graham’s home the day of the murder.
According to prosecutors, Shockley first shot Graham with a rifle, severing his spinal cord, causing him to fall to the ground and fracture his skull. Shockley then approached Graham and shot him in the face and shoulder with the shotgun. Shockley had a .243 caliber rifle, and .243 caliber bullets were recovered from Graham’s body. Bullet fragments found on Shockley’s uncle’s property matched bullets found in the trooper’s body, according to court documents filed by the Missouri attorney general’s office.
Weis said prosecutors have presented no direct evidence linking Shockley to the murder.
“The state’s case remains circumstantial,” Weis said last week during a forum 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.”
Shockley’s attorneys also said other witnesses placed their client about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from Graham’s home, while prosecutors suggested Graham was lurking near police’s home.
According to court documents, prosecutors said Shockley was investigating where Graham lived before the murder and was trying to get rid of a box of .243-caliber ammunition around the time of the slaying.
Prosecutors said positive DNA test results “even if obtained, would not undermine Shockley’s conviction.”
If the execution goes through, Shockley would be the first person executed in Missouri this year. The last execution in the state took place on December 3. Christopher Collings He was given a lethal injection for sexually assaulting and killing a 9-year-old girl.
If both of Tuesday’s executions take place, this year’s total would rise to 37 death sentences was carried out across the country.
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