Oct. 14 (UPI) — Missouri on Tuesday executed its first death row inmate of this year, killing Lance Shockley for the 2005 murder of a state highway patrol officer.
Shockley, 48, died by lethal injection starting at 6 p.m. CST at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo.
He was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m., the Missouri Department of Corrections told media in an emailed statement.
Shockley was convicted of murdering Sgt. Carl DeWayne Graham Jr. on March 20, 2005. The Missouri State Highway Patrol officer investigating had been investigating Shockley for manslaughter in connection to a November 2004 car crash.
Shockley maintained his innocence.
“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 said as his last statement, a copy of which the Missouri Department of Corrections provided to UPI.
His final visits were with his two daughters and a friend, ending at 11:06 a.m.
He was served his last meal of peanut butter, three packs of oatmeal, water and two sports drink seven minutes afterward.
On Monday, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe denied Shockley’s request for clemency.
“Mr. Shockley has received every legal protection afforded to him under the Missouri and United States Constitutions, and his conviction and sentence will remain for his brutal, deliberate crime,” the Republican governor said in a statement.
“The State of Missouri has — and will continue to — pursue justice to the fullest extent of the law.”
Amnesty International USA was among anti-death penalty advocates opposing the execution of Shockley, arguing there was “serious flaws in his case” and that the evidence against him “was entirely circumstantial.”
“Gov. Kehoe’s refusal to grant Lance Shockley clemency or appoint a Board of Inquiry is unconscionable,” the human rights organization said in a statement published after Shockley was killed.
According to court documents, Shockley was convicted of fatally shooting Graham at about 4 p.m. March 20, 2005, as the officer was returning home.
Prosecutors said Shockley killed Graham for investigating him in connection with the Nov. 26, 2004, death of his sister-in-law’s fiance, Jeffrey Bayless.
Bayless was the front seat passenger in a truck being driven by Shockley, who lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a ditch, killing the man. Prosecutors said he had been drinking.
He was executed hours after the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal.
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Shockley’s attorneys had sought to halt his execution to permit time to test evidence for DNA. The Missouri Supreme Court has said that the verdict in his case was based on circumstantial evidence but that “the circumstantial evidence was strong and his sentenced was proportionate.”
On Monday night, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit also rejected Shockley’s request to have his two daughters, who are both ministers, serve as his spiritual advisors.
According to court documents, one of his daughters would perform communion and anoint Shockley with oil, and the other would touch and pray over him during the execution.
The court ruled that his request be denied due to the absence of a substantial burden on his religious exercise.
Florida on Tuesday also executed Samuel Smithers, 72, for killing two women in 1996.
Shockley is Missouri’s first execution of the year, while Smithers is Florida’s 14th — a record high for the Sunshine State since executions resumed in 1976.
According to Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, there are now seven men on death row, five of who are eligible for execution.
Missouri has executed more than 100 people since the resumption of the death penalty in 1976, including four last year.
So far in 2025, there have been 37 executions in the United States.
