Lance Shockley died by lethal injection last year. State courts have rejected prisoners’ requests for DNA testing in recent years.
10.03.2026 15:00
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Lance Shockley died by lethal injection last year. State courts have rejected prisoners’ requests for DNA testing in recent years.
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A screenshot of the Opening Statement newsletter with the following first two paragraphs visible: "“What is the harm in doing the testing?” DNA testing has played a role in overturning more than 550 wrongful convictions since 2000, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. But its use in Missouri has been stymied by prosecutors, judges and restrictive laws that result in absurd consequences. One man on death row, Lance Shockley, was executed last year, two days before a DNA hearing in his case. Another man imprisoned for decades has been waiting since 2022 for a court to rule on a request for DNA testing. From our St. Louis newsroom, TMP’s Katie Moore has our story. The Marshall Project TMP A short history of prison bands. The 1970s offered what we can now call a golden age of prison music. There were at least 15 albums produced by bands of incarcerated musicians who were allowed by corrections officials to compose and record music behind bars. The Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, near the state’s death row, holds eight albums that were sold at the annual prison rodeo from 1972 to 1982. TMPs Maurice Chammah, a Texas resident and musician, has a preview of our upcoming limited-run newsletter titled “Redemption Song,” a look at music produced in prisons across the U.S. in the past century. The Marshall Project "
Today’s Opening Statement takes a look at Missouri’s harsh approach to DNA testing for people convicted of crimes. There’s also a close look at New York’s continuing failure to hold prosecutors accountable for misconduct. mailchi.mp/themarshallp...
This session will also walk folks through a searchable database of misconduct cases filed against Missouri police officers, including more than a decade of records compiled by The Marshall Project - St. Louis.
Follow The Marshall Project - St. Louis’ reporting on criminal justice in St. Louis and across Missouri by subscribing to our local team’s email list ⬇️
Every state has a law allowing people who have been convicted to request DNA testing of evidence in their cases. But in Missouri, courts have made it particularly difficult to access that testing, even for those facing imminent execution, a review of cases by The Marshall Project - St. Louis found.
Today the @macarthurjustice.bsky.social held a memorial for Honesty Bishop, who @katiereports.bsky.social and I wrote about last year. She would have been 34. Her story is tragic and unbelievable, but her strength led to the end of the very Missouri prison policy that tormented her.
The Marshall Project - St. Louis spoke to over 40 people who have worked or lived at the prison. They reported rampant problems: going weeks without medication, a lack of medical attention in solitary confinement and monthslong waits to get treatment or follow-up appointments for serious issues.
During Lance Shockley’s final moments in Missouri’s execution chamber in October 2025, he wanted his daughter, an ordained minister, by his side as his spiritual adviser.
But the Missouri Department of Corrections refused Shockley his chosen spiritual adviser, and he died alone.
Yesterday, Lance Shockley was executed in Missouri. His two daughters attended the execution.
The experiences of children with parents on death row are often forgotten when it comes to capital punishment. Of the past 10 people who have faced execution in Missouri, at least six had children.
Lance Shockley has been executed in Missouri. Officials said his time of death was 6:13 p.m.
Lance Shockley is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. in Missouri. The Department of Corrections has released his final statement:
The experiences of children with parents on death row are often forgotten when it comes to capital punishment. No organization tracks information on this particular group.
Of the past 10 people who have faced execution in Missouri, at least six had children.
Essential reading for Missourians from @katiereports.bsky.social. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/09/18/m...
Two St. Louis police officers hit a handcuffed man and shocked him with a Taser. A deputy in southwest MO was convicted of assaulting another deputy’s wife.
They kept their Missouri police licenses and are still working as officers, despite being brought before a state discipline board.
Bobby Bostic was only 18 when he was sentenced to 241 years behind bars. To his surprise, weeds, water and soil put the St. Louis native on the path to healing.
Sandy Hemme spent 43 years behind bars. Even after a judge declared her innocent and ordered her freed, Missouri's attorney general tried to send her back.
The state’s legal and political systems often resist admitting error even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
"Bishop was allowed out of her cell — shackled — for one hour, three days a week, according to the lawsuit. She did not have access to a phone, classes or a job. She particularly missed TV and radio because she loved music. Beyoncé was her favorite artist."
Honesty Bishop could hear the screams of other people in solitary confinement. Sometimes it was so cold in her cell, she could see her breath. She dealt with scabies and mold.
Missouri is one of three states that singles out people with HIV, like Bishop, when it comes to solitary confinement.
Matthew Morrison’s U.S. immigration case was once used by the Clinton administration to help solidify peace in Northern Ireland.
In mid-July, the 69-year-old fled the U.S. rather than risk detention. “I would bite the dust in an ICE holding cell,” Morrison told The Marshall Project - St. Louis.
In St. Louis, over half of the homicides between 2014 and 2023 went unsolved. The Marshall Project and St. Louis Public Radio spent time with six of the families who have yet to see justice, asking what they’ll always remember about their loved one and how they want the community to remember them.
There’s a question of whether forcing people to endure extreme temperatures without relief or remedy constitutes extreme or unusual punishment, in violation of their civil rights.
The bigger question: What will be done?
Under the Death in Custody Reporting Act, the government is supposed to track how many people die in law enforcement custody — but the data is a mess.
"While many of their cases have gone quiet, each family is still fighting to keep their child’s memory alive. Drawing inspiration from photos, videos, and family interviews, local artist Cbabi Bayoc created vibrant portraits imbued with traces of each young person’s life and values."
Sandy Hemme spent 43 years behind bars. Even after a judge declared her innocent and ordered her freed, Missouri's attorney general tried to send her back.
The state’s legal and political systems often resist admitting error even in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Twelve jurors had found Marvin Rice guilty of murder. But they could not unanimously agree on whether he should live or die. Missouri is one of two states where a judge gets the final say when jurors can’t agree on the punishment — even when they vote 11 to 1 for life, as they had in Rice’s case.
St. Louis-area immigration advocates rallied in downtown St. Louis against the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts and the subsequent federalization of the National Guard.
