Missouri man executed for the fatal shooting of a state trooper in 2005

BONNE TERRE Mo AP A Missouri man who long maintained his innocence was executed Tuesday for the fatal shooting of a state trooper more than years ago Lance Shockley was pronounced dead at 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 Prosecutors reported 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 automobile Shockley s execution was one of two in the country Tuesday evening Samuel Lee Smithers died by lethal injection in Florida for the killings of two women whose bodies were identified in a rural pond in In the death chamber Shockley s head was elevated on a pillow and he raised his head off the pillow and communicated with loved ones in the witness room to his left A woman there appeared to carry on a detailed conversation with him from his soundproof room After about seconds he laid his head back on the pillow and appeared to stop talking Shockley was visited by his daughters and a friend in the morning according to prison leaders His last meal consisted of items from the canteen peanut butter three packs of oatmeal water and two sports drinks In a written final declaration he noted So also you have sorrow now but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your gratification from you Shockley s execution was carried out after the U S Supreme Court rejected his final appeals earlier in the day GOP Gov Mike Kehoe turned down his request for clemency Monday Violence against those who threat their lives every day to protect our communities will never be tolerated Missouri stands firmly with our men and women in uniform Kehoe declared in a report Shockley s attorneys were unsuccessful in their efforts to have state appeals courts stop his execution in order to allow DNA testing of evidence discovered at the scene of the killing His lawyers argued that much of that evidence had never been tested and could have helped exonerate Shockley Even a small chance of exoneration is enough to warrant testing his lawyers commented in court documents They also inquired the U S Supreme Court for a stay arguing that Shockley s 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 the Supreme Court ruled that states must allow spiritual advisers to accompany inmates in the death chamber Missouri administrators argued that state prison initiative prevents family members from having direct contact with inmates during an execution due to shield concerns they might interfere with the process Executives noted Shockley shot Graham because he was researching him for involuntary manslaughter after leaving the scene of a deadly accident in which Shockley s best friend was killed Prosecutors disclosed Shockley borrowed his grandmother s red Pontiac Grand Am which was seen near Graham s home the day of the killing Shockley first shot Graham with a rifle severing his spinal cord and causing him to fall to the ground and fracture his skull according to prosecutors He then approached and shot Graham in the face and shoulder with a shotgun Shockley owned a -caliber rifle and -caliber rounds were recovered from Graham s body Bullet fragments exposed on the property of Shockley s uncle matched the rounds recovered from the trooper s body according to court documents filed by the Missouri Attorney General s Office Jeremy Weis one of Shockley s attorneys stated prosecutors presented no direct evidence connecting him to the killing The state s circumstance remained circumstantial Weis reported last week while discussing the affair during a forum at the University of Missouri School of Law The murder weapons were never revealed There were disagreements between the ballistics experts hired by the prosecution Shockley s attorney also declared spectators placed him about miles kilometers from Graham s home at a time when prosecutors noted he was lying in wait there Prosecutors reported Shockley inquired about where Graham lived beforehand and tried to get rid of a box of -caliber ammunition around the time of the killing according to court documents Favorable DNA test results even if obtained would not tend to undermine Shockley s conviction prosecutors disclosed Shockley is the first person put to death this year in Missouri where no other executions are scheduled for The last one in the state took place Dec when Christopher Collings died by lethal injection for the sexual assault and killing of a -year-old girl Lozano revealed from Houston Follow him online at https x com juanlozano Source