From Missouri Net News Alisa Nelson:
Missouri prisoner Lance Shockley had his final meal on Tuesday – peanut butter, oatmeal, water, and sports drinks.
Nearly seven hours later, the state gave Shockley a five gram lethal dose of pentobarbital.
Missouri carried out Shockley’s death sentence 20 years after the murder of State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham, Jr. Graham, who had been investigating Shockley’s role in a deadly drunk driving crash, was shot and killed outside his Carter County home.
On March 20, 2005, Graham was shot with a high-powered rifle in the back, chin, neck, face, and shoulder, severing his spinal cord and causing him to fall backward with enough force to fracture his skull and ribs. He died at the scene of the crime.
At 6:01 p.m., Shockley was given five grams of the legal drug. The curtains opened shortly after.
As Missourinet witnessed Shockley in his final minutes alive, the man stretched atop a gurney wearing a white shirt and a white sheet pulled up to his chest. His head was up and he appeared to mouth words to loved ones a few times. He nodded his head back at them as they appeared to communicate back to him.
Within about one minute, he put his head down on a pillow and he took several deep breaths. Shortly after, his breathing became lighter.
Shockley did not appear to struggle during his final moments.
He quickly drifted – in about two minutes.
The curtains closed a few minutes later.
Once they reopened, Shockley’s lifeless body appeared.
“Time of death is 6:13 p.m.,” a Missouri Department of Corrections worker announced in the room of state witnesses.
Shockley’s execution marks the first one carried out by Missouri this year. It is also the first one in which Gov. Mike Kehoe decided whether the man should live or die. Kehoe denied a clemency request to block Shockley’s execution.
“Tonight, justice was delivered for the murder of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham, Jr. As governor of Missouri, Gov. Kehoe will always have the backs of our law enforcement officers. The punishment carried out tonight is evidence that anyone who takes the life of an officer will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Kehoe said in part in a statement.
“Since 1931, the Patrol has lost 31 officers in the line of duty,” he said. “Tonight marks the end of a 20-years long chapter for Dewayne’s family, friends, and fellow troopers. The loss of Dewayne is a profound reminder of the dangers that every trooper and law enforcement officer accepts when they put on this uniform. It’s also a terrible reminder of the sacrifices that too many families are forced to bear. Sergeant Carl Dewayne Graham Jr., badge #223, will forever be a part of the Patrol’s history.”
Here is part of a written statement from the Graham family:
“Today has brought our family a measure of finality that we have been waiting for since March 20, 2005, when we lost Dewayne in the most senseless and devastating way imaginable. And the grief of losing Dewayne has left a profound emptiness in all of us that touches every part of our daily lives. No court proceeding, nor what happened here today, can ever bring Dewayne back, or heal the hole left in our hearts. But after all these years, there is some measure of peace in knowing that this part of the process is over.”
Despite Shockley maintaining his innocence, his case was reviewed and upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court, the federal district court, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his final public statement, Shockley 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.”
His daughters, Summer Shockley–Anagnostopolous and Morgan Shockley, witnessed their father’s death. Here is part of their statement:
“We are two daughters — two women who have spent most of our lives holding tightly to faith, to hope, & to the promise that God’s justice and mercy always prevail. Prison has given our dad an opportunity to find Jesus & space to restore his heart. Since then, he has been a steadfast man of God. Through every season, he has remained faithful, loyal, and selfless — a servant to God’s people even in the darkest of places. He is a light that cannot be dimmed, a man who speaks about grace more than pain, and forgiveness more than bitterness. His life, even behind bars, has been a Ministry. Now, through us he will continue to live out his Divine calling — how beautiful it is to be in the midst of it,” they said.
Shockley is the 141st person that Missouri has executed since 1938.
The Missouri Department of Corrections said seven men who have been sentenced to death remain in a Missouri prison, five white men and three black men.
The department said 96 protesters were at the state prison in Bonne Terre on execution day – 93 opposed to the execution and three in support of Shockley’s death.
