A man who has insisted upon his innocence in the 2005 murder of a Missouri highway patrolman is scheduled to be executed next week, even though the jury that convicted him could not reach agreement on his death sentence.聽
In , a deadlocked jury would have resulted in a life sentence. But Missouri is one of two states, along with Indiana, that allow judges to unilaterally choose the death penalty when a jury is split on how to sentence a defendant for a capital offense.聽
Lance Shockley was a of execution in June after exhausting state and federal processes to appeal his conviction of the murder of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr.
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Graham was found shot dead in the driveway of his home in Carter County in March 2005. He had been investigating Shockley鈥檚 role in a fatal 2004 drunk driving accident, which prosecutors said gave Shockley a motive to kill him.
A Missouri Highway Patrol file photo from March 23, 2005, shows the arrest of Lance Shockley. He was charged in the murder of Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham, a Missouri state trooper.
Shockley鈥檚 defense team argued on appeal that his trial was flawed by a lack of physical evidence or eyewitnesses placing him on Graham鈥檚 property on the day of the murder, and that Shockley was entitled to of items from the scene of the crime that could exonerate him.聽
With a clemency petition pending in Gov. Mike Kehoe鈥檚 office, Shockley鈥檚 case has stirred scrutiny of the state鈥檚 unusual judicial sentencing law.聽
Anti-death penalty activists at the Missouri Capitol Tuesday, with some carrying signs asking, 鈥淲hat if we got it wrong?鈥澛
At a presentation at the University of Missouri Law School later that evening, Shockley鈥檚 lead attorney, assistant federal public defender Jeremy Weis, said Missouri law puts circuit court judges 鈥 who in , not appointed 鈥 under 鈥渁 lot of pressure鈥 to choose the death penalty.聽
鈥淣obody ever wins an election for county judge or circuit judge by arguing that, 鈥業鈥檓 going to be fair with defendants,鈥 Weis said in an interview Thursday.
Alyssa O'Brien, a mitigation specialist at the federal defender office in the Western District of Missouri, speaks on Oct. 7 at the University of Missouri about Lance Shockley, pictured in the background. (Steph Quinn/Missouri Independent.)
, Missouri lawmakers have considered at least one bill to repeal the law.
State Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, a Republican from Arnold, sponsored bills in 2023, 2024 and that would have required a sentence of life imprisonment without parole in cases with deadlocked juries. This year, the bill stalled when it reached the full Senate, but she said she plans to sponsor the measure again in 2026.
鈥淣o matter what anybody鈥檚 individual belief system is about the death penalty, I think we can all agree that it should be consistently applied,鈥 Coleman said in an interview Thursday. 鈥淎nd when you have one person making a decision on behalf of the state about the life and death of a citizen, I think it鈥檚 really inappropriate.鈥
But bills like Coleman鈥檚 have faced opposition from lawmakers who argue that current state law allows judges to ensure victims see justice for serious crimes.
Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, opposed Coleman鈥檚 bill when it came up for debate in March.聽
鈥淎 vote in favor of this legislation as it sits right now,鈥 he said at the time, 鈥渋s to protect some of the most heinous murderers in the state of Missouri.鈥
Members of Shockley鈥檚 legal team argued that, aside from the possibility of his wrongful conviction, his work as a mentor for fellow inmates over more than a decade Potosi Correctional Center should qualify him to continue that role while incarcerated.
Alyssa O鈥橞rien, a mitigation specialist on Shockley鈥檚 legal team, said Tuesday that Shockley oversees Christian programming at Potosi and volunteers in the section of the prison housing inmates with developmental disabilities, counseling and praying with them.聽
Shockley was selected for the prison鈥檚 Institutional Peer Support program, O鈥橞rien said, which allows him to respond to correctional officers鈥 calls and help de-escalate when inmates are in crisis.
鈥淟ance is looking out for the guys in the prison, but he is also helping the officers, because he鈥檚 helping maintain safety and facilitate these relationships between everybody,鈥 O鈥橞rien said.
Heidi Moore, executive director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, said that when she worked as an institutional parole officer stationed in Potosi in the early 2000s, the presence of inmates trusted by staff and their peers 鈥渕ean[t] wonders.鈥
鈥淲hen you get some of the younger guys that don鈥檛 know how to act,鈥 Moore said,鈥渢hey will listen to someone under a death sentence.鈥澛
Weis said Thursday that he hadn鈥檛 heard from the governor鈥檚 office about Shockley鈥檚 clemency petition, but that he remains hopeful. This would be the first execution in Missouri since Kehoe took office in January. Under Kehoe鈥檚 predecessor, the state conducted 12 executions in six years.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e just going to say that we鈥檙e not going to give clemency to anybody who鈥檚 on death row because of the circumstances of the crime,鈥 Weis said, 鈥渢hen you鈥檙e not giving anybody incentives to be good citizens, right? Might as well act out. What鈥檚 the point?鈥
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