Missouri Executes Man for 2005 Killing of State Trooper
A Missouri man who long insisted he was innocent was executed Tuesday evening for the fatal shooting of a state trooper more than two decades ago.
Lance Shockley, 48, was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre, according to state officials. He was convicted of murdering Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr. in March 2005.
Prosecutors said Shockley waited near the trooper’s home in Van Buren, southeast Missouri, and ambushed him with a rifle and shotgun as Graham arrived and exited his patrol car. Investigators said Shockley targeted Graham because the officer was probing him in connection with an involuntary manslaughter case tied to a deadly crash that had killed Shockley’s best friend.
In his final written statement, Shockley quoted Scripture, writing: “So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
The execution proceeded after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Shockley’s final appeals earlier in the day. Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe denied his request for clemency Monday, saying in a statement, “Violence against those who risk their lives every day to protect our communities will never be tolerated. Missouri stands firmly with our men and women in uniform.”
Shockley’s legal team had sought to halt the execution to allow DNA testing of evidence collected from the scene—testing they argued could have cleared him. “Even a small chance of exoneration is enough to warrant testing,” the attorneys wrote in court filings.
They also appealed to the Supreme Court, claiming the Missouri Department of Corrections violated Shockley’s First Amendment rights by preventing his daughter from serving as his spiritual adviser during the execution. In a 2022 ruling, the Court determined that states must permit spiritual advisers to accompany inmates in the death chamber. Missouri officials countered that prison policy forbids family members from having direct contact during executions for security reasons.
Shockley was the first inmate executed this year in Missouri. No other executions are scheduled in the state for 2025. Earlier Tuesday, Florida carried out its 14th execution of the year.
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