{"id":9201,"date":"2026-04-20T05:55:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/missouri-bid-to-end-judge-imposed-death-sentences-faces-senate-roadblock\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T05:55:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:55:18","slug":"missouri-bid-to-end-judge-imposed-death-sentences-faces-senate-roadblock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/missouri-bid-to-end-judge-imposed-death-sentences-faces-senate-roadblock\/","title":{"rendered":"Missouri bid to end judge-imposed death sentences faces Senate roadblock"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n

Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Republican from Parkville, speaks to reporters at the halfway point of the 2026 legislative session March 12, 2026 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent).<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A bipartisan push to end a Missouri law allowing judges to impose the death penalty when jurors can\u2019t agree has moved further through the legislature this year than at any point in at least a decade. But opposition from Senate leaders makes it unlikely to pass.<\/span><\/p>\n

Missouri and Indiana are the only states that allow judges to choose the death penalty when a jury is deadlocked in a first-degree murder case. Most other states default to life imprisonment without parole.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>bill<\/span><\/a> sponsored by Republican state Rep. Bishop Davidson of Republic would require a jury\u2019s unanimity to sentence someone to death and mandate life in prison when juries remain split. It would also direct the state to automatically expunge electronic criminal records of thousands of eligible Missourians convicted of nonviolent offenses who have served their sentences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Davidson\u2019s bill passed the House 140 to 7 in March, with 95 Republicans in support, and was unanimously voted out of a Senate committee last week. Democratic state Sen. Brian Williams of University City is sponsoring a similar <\/span>bill<\/span><\/a> that also combines the automatic expungement and sentencing measures.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the proposal faces a significant obstacle in the Senate, where Majority Leader Tony Leutkemeyer said he remains \u201cvehemently opposed\u201d to requiring jury unanimity for a death sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt will not pass the Senate,\u201d said Leutkemeyer, a Parkville Republican.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luetkemeyer, who as Senate Majority Leader controls the chamber\u2019s agenda, sparred last year with Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold over a bill that would have required jurors\u2019 unanimity for the death penalty, saying it \u201cwould have \u201cprotect[ed] some of the most heinous murderers in the state of Missouri.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporters of efforts to eliminate the \u201cjudicial override\u201d argue that Missouri\u2019s current system violates defendants\u2019 constitutional right to a trial by jury and increases the chances of executing an innocent person. They also emphasize broad, longstanding support in Missouri.<\/span><\/p>\n

In cases that could result in the death penalty, sentencing happens in a separate phase of the trial from the determination of guilt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Missouri Sen. Brian Williams, a Democrat from University City (photo courtesy of Missouri Senate Communications).<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Corinna Barrett Lain, a legal historian at the University of Richmond and former prosecutor, told The Independent that while jurors must find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict someone, the sentencing phase allows them to heed any \u201cresidual doubt\u201d about the defendant\u2019s guilt.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond a reasonable doubt is not beyond all doubt,\u201d Lain said. \u201cSometimes a jury will have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but they still have residual doubt, and in those cases, they will vote for life rather than death.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Allowing a judge to override a jury\u2019s vote, Lain said, \u201cnullifies those voices on the jury.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Heidi Moore, executive director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, told The Independent that a single person should not be allowed to impose the death penalty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we trust juries to determine whether or not they\u2019re guilty, we should trust them to determine the appropriate sentence,\u201d Moore said.<\/span><\/p>\n

One or more jurors voted for life in more than 90% of death-row exonerations in states that allow the death penalty based on a non-unanimous jury vote, a 2020 <\/span>analysis<\/span><\/a> by the Death Penalty Information Center found.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luetkemeyer, who is running for Platte County prosecutor, said requiring jurors\u2019 unanimity would allow people convicted of horrible crimes to escape punishment.<\/span><\/p>\n

He referred to Lance Shockley, who was executed <\/span>last October<\/span><\/a> after being convicted in 2009 for the murder of Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl DeWayne Graham Jr. At least two jurors voted for Shockley to serve life in prison, according to his attorney.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leutkemeyer opposes the bill because it \u201cwould have allowed a convicted cop killer who has now received the death penalty to have gotten off of death row.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Shockley, Craig Wood was sentenced to death by a judge. The Missouri Supreme Court in in January refused to resentence Wood, who was <\/span>convicted<\/span><\/a> of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not supportive of changing the law to allow those types of individuals to get off of death row,\u201d Leutkemeyer said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ahead of Shockley\u2019s death, members of his legal team <\/span>argued<\/span><\/a> that his work as a mentor for fellow inmates over more than a decade in Potosi Correctional Center should have allowed him to spend life in prison. Shockley\u2019s behavior qualified him to live in the facility\u2019s honor dorm, and he volunteered with inmates with developmental disabilities, often praying with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shockley was executed two days before a scheduled court hearing on DNA testing of crime scene items that he said could exonerate him, according to <\/span>The Marshall Project<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sharon Geuea Jones, a lobbyist representing Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty, told The Independent that the obstacles to eliminating Missouri\u2019s \u201cjudicial override\u201d are \u201call procedural.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem that we\u2019re having is there have always been just a few senators who feel very strongly about it, and they\u2019re in leadership positions, and so they\u2019ve been preventing a vote on the bill,\u201d Jones said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Every year since at least 2016, at least one lawmaker has filed a bill to eliminate Missouri\u2019s \u201cjudicial override.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, 13 lawmakers \u2014 including four Republicans \u2014 filed bills containing a provision mandating life imprisonment without parole when a jury is deadlocked. It\u2019s the fourth year Coleman has filed such a bill. Last year, that number was 10, including five Republicans.<\/span><\/p>\n

During a Senate committee hearing this month on Davidson\u2019s bill, the measure drew support from the Missouri NAACP, Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, the interfaith group Missouri Faith Voices and the Peace and Justice Commission of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two weeks before Shockley\u2019s death, a <\/span>survey<\/span><\/a> of 440 Missouri voters presented with details of his case found that 79% of Democrats, 67% of Independents and 53% of Republicans supported clemency, with many objecting to the judge imposing capital punishment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The bill\u2019s pairing with automatic expungement has complicated the politics. More than 500,000 Missourians are eligible to have convictions sealed, but fewer than 1% have done so, according to a 2023 <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> by Santa Clara University researchers. If Missouri cleared this backlog, the study found, the 26% difference between Black and white Missourians with at least one conviction on their record would decrease by over half. The Missouri Budget Project has <\/span>found<\/span><\/a> that people who receive expungements see an average 23% increase in annual wages, with the largest gains among Black people and women.<\/span><\/p>\n

Davidson said the coalition behind the package supports both automatic expungement and ending judicial override, but he acknowledged the death penalty provision may prove harder to move.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s the thing that has to go in order for this whole thing to advance, that\u2019s an unfortunate situation, but it\u2019s something that I think we have to be willing to consider,\u201d Davidson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Williams told The Independent that the \u201cclean slate\u201d provision regarding expungement is an equity and economic issue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis bill is just as much a workforce development and economic development and racial equity policy all at once,\u201d Williams said.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Williams said he hopes to keep the judicial override provision in the legislation, \u201cwe need to make sure that it doesn\u2019t ultimately prevent over half a million Missourians from having access to an expungement that they\u2019re eligible for.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Republican from Parkville, speaks to reporters at the halfway point of the 2026 legislative session March 12, 2026 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent). A bipartisan push to end a Missouri law allowing judges to impose the death penalty when jurors can\u2019t agree has moved further through the legislature this year than…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMissouri bid to end judge-imposed death sentences faces Senate roadblock - WestplexNews.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/westplexnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/20\/missouri-bid-to-end-judge-imposed-death-sentences-faces-senate-roadblock\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missouri bid to end judge-imposed death sentences faces Senate roadblock - WestplexNews.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Republican from Parkville, speaks to reporters at the halfway point of the 2026 legislative session March 12, 2026 (Annelise Hanshaw\/Missouri Independent). 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