PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "WORDS TO HEED: FROM OUR POST ON KEVIN COOPER'S APPLICATION FOR POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING; CALIFORNIA: (Applicable wherever a state resists DNA testing): "Blogger/extraordinaire Jeff Gamso's blunt, unequivocal, unforgettable message to the powers that be in California: "JUST TEST THE FUCKING DNA." (Oh yes, Gamso raises, as he does in many of his posts, an important philosophical question: This post is headed: "What is truth, said jesting Pilate."...Says Gamso: "So what's the harm? What, exactly, are they scared of? Don't we want the truth?")
PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Although jurors convicted Shockley in Graham's murder, they could not agree on whether to sentence him to life in prison or impose capital punishment, court records show. Because of the deadlock, a trial court judge presiding over Shockley's case decided the sentence, and sentenced him to death. Missouri and Indiana are the only two states in the U.S. where a judge can impose a death sentence in situations where the jury deadlocks on sentencing, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit organization that shares data and other resources about capital punishment but does not take a position on the issue."
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STORY: "Missouri executes death row inmate who maintains innocence in state trooper's murder 20 years ago," by Reporter Emily Mae Czachor, published by CBS News, on October 14, 2025. (Emily Mae Czachor is a reporter and news editor at CBSNews.com. She typically covers breaking news, extreme weather and issues involving social justice. Now based in New York, Emily Mae received a journalism degree from the University of Southern California before starting her career in Los Angeles, where she reported on homelessness in Venice Beach and, later, worked a brief stint in local radio. Prior to joining CBS News, Emily Mae covered entertainment and politics at the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed and Newsweek. Her reporting has been cited in the Northwestern Law Review and the Harvard Law Review.)
GIST: "A death row inmate in Missouri was executed Tuesday night after the state's governor denied his clemency petition.
The Missouri Department of Corrections said in a statement that 48-year-old Lance Shockley was executed at the Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre and was pronounced dead at 6:13 p.m. local time from a lethal injection.
Shockley was convicted of first-degree murder for fatally shooting a Missouri state trooper in 2005, court records show. Shockley had maintained his innocence for the last 20 years, as his lawyers argued in multiple rounds of appeals that their client did not receive a fair trial or sentencing, claims that the state repeatedly refuted.
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe on Monday announced his decision to reject Shockley's plea to stay the execution, allowing the corrections department to proceed as planned with his lethal injection at the state prison in Bonne Terre.
"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 and deliberate crime," said Kehoe in the announcement. "The State of Missouri has—and will continue to—pursue justice to the fullest extent of the law. Carrying out Lance Shockley's sentence is evidence of our commitment to the pursuit of justice."
A jury unanimously convicted Shockley in the death of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Graham, who was killed at his home on March 20, 2005, according to court records. Prosecutors had said during Shockley's trial that before Graham's murder, the patrolman was investigating Shockley for manslaughter, in connection with a car accident that took place in November 2004 and resulted in the death of a passenger, who was Shockley's friend, the records said.
Prosecutors said Shockley murdered Graham in an effort to stop his investigation into the wreck. Prosecutors alleged he drove to the patrolman's house, waited for Graham to return home, and, as he was exiting his vehicle, shot the state trooper multiple times before leaving the scene.
The prosecution said Shockley had borrowed a red Pontiac Grand Am from his grandmother on the day of the murder, and witnesses reported seeing a red car parked near Graham's home around the time it happened, according to court records. They also said bullet fragments found at the property of Shockley's uncle matched those recovered at the scene of the shooting.
But Shockley's attorneys have argued the state's case against him relied predominantly on circumstantial evidence. They also say the state failed to conduct DNA testing on "numerous pieces of critical evidence" found at the site of Graham's murder.
"From the beginning, this case has suffered from a failure of due diligence," said Jeremy Weis, one of Shockley's attorneys, in a July statement released through a website advocating for his client's clemency.
"There are significant issues with the prosecution's timeline. Several other viable suspects were overlooked and to this day, numerous pieces of critical evidence, up to 16 items, have never been tested for DNA," Weis' statement continued. "These items could hold the key to the truth to what really happened on March 20, 2005. Despite these facts, the court denied our motion to conduct DNA testing."
Although jurors convicted Shockley in Graham's murder, they could not agree on whether to sentence him to life in prison or impose capital punishment, court records show. Because of the deadlock, a trial court judge presiding over Shockley's case decided the sentence, and sentenced him to death.
Missouri and Indiana are the only two states in the U.S. where a judge can impose a death sentence in situations where the jury deadlocks on sentencing, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit organization that shares data and other resources about capital punishment but does not take a position on the issue."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/missouri-execution-lance-shockley-state-trooper-murder-2005/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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