15 October 2025 :
October 14, 2025 - Missouri. Lance Shockley, 48, White, was executed on October 14
Shockley was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. following a lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre.
Shockley was convicted of killing Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr. in March 2005. Prosecutors said he waited for hours near Graham’s home in Van Buren, in southeast Missouri, and shot him with a rifle and shotgun after the trooper exited his patrol vehicle.
Authorities said Shockley shot Graham because he was investigating him for involuntary manslaughter after leaving the scene of a deadly accident in which Shockley’s best friend was killed. Prosecutors said Shockley borrowed his grandmother’s red Pontiac Grand Am, which was seen near Graham’s home the day of the killing.
Jeremy Weis, one of Shockley’s attorneys, said prosecutors presented no direct evidence connecting him to the killing.
“The murder weapons were never found. There were disagreements between the ballistics experts hired by the prosecution.”
Shockley’s attorney also said witnesses placed him about 14 miles (23 kilometers) from Graham’s home at a time when prosecutors said he was lying in wait there.
As for the execution, Shockley was visited by his daughters and a friend in the morning, according to prison officials. His last meal consisted of items from the canteen: peanut butter, three packs of oatmeal, water and two sports drinks.
In a written final statement, he said: “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.”
Shockley’s attorneys were unsuccessful in their efforts to have state appeals courts stop his execution in order to allow DNA testing of evidence found at the scene of the killing. His lawyers argued that much of that evidence had never been tested and could have helped exonerate Shockley.
They also asked the Supreme Court for a stay, arguing that his First Amendment rights were being violated since the Missouri Department of Corrections prohibited his daughter from being his spiritual adviser during the execution. In March 2022 the Supreme Court ruled that states must allow spiritual advisers to accompany inmates in the death chamber.
Missouri officials argued that state prison policy prevents family members from having direct contact with inmates during an execution due to security concerns they might interfere with the process.
Outside the prison, about 90 people protested in opposition to the death penalty.
Shockley is the first person put to death this year in Missouri (where no other executions are scheduled for 2025) and the 102nd since the state resumed executions in 1989.
This is the 37th execution of the year in the US, and the n° 1644 overall since the nation resumed executions in 1977
https://apnews.com/article/missouri-execution-lance-shockley-65034ffbd169154ecc1b593a072b7dd2
