By NOREEN HYSLOP Managing Editor
More than eight years after Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham, Jr., a Dexter native, was shot and killed as he was returned from work to his rural Van Buren home, his father says he can finally breathe a little easier following Tuesday's Supreme Court decision that affirmed the conviction of Lance Shockley for the murder of his son.
Shockley, now 36 --one year younger than his victim at the time of the killing -- was convicted of first-degree murder in the trooper's death and in May 2009, he was sentenced to death for the crime.
The decision came from the Missouri Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon. Within moments, the slain officer's father received word.
"Today, the conviction held," said Carl Graham, Sr. Tuesday afternoon after hearing the news, "and we have the process on the road now. This is a milestone."
The "process" to which Graham refers is the carrying out of the death sentence for the man who shot his son in the back of the head on March 20, 2005. Graham was serving as sergeant of Zone G of the Highway Patrol at the time of his death.
The family of the murdered trooper said at the time of the sentencing that he felt his family would finally have some degree of closure. But that closure never really came -- until Tuesday.
"It just seemed like one disappointment after another," the senior Graham said, referring to the delays and appeal process that has thus far followed Shockley's sentencing.
"I know the guilty have to have their rights, but sometimes it seems they have more rights than the family of the victim. My son was shot in the back and twice in the face with a shotgun. I don't think that anyone who opposes the death penalty would feel that way if they lost their only child by assassination."
Tuesday's decision, Graham said, confirmed that justice will come one day when Shockley's sentence is carried out. With that confirmation, the father of Sgt. Dewayne Graham can breathe again.
"There was just so much unfinished business before that decision came," he explained. "There have been so many people who had a hand in making that conviction stick. It's been hard not to voice my appreciation because it just always seems there's one more hurdle to get over."
Now, Graham said, those hurdles are dwindling, as is the appeal process for his son's killer. A few more processes remain, but he is confident that after Tuesday's Supreme Court ruling, there is no need to worry that his conviction will be overturned or his death sentence will be altered.
"The conviction would never have taken place without the work of the officers on the Highway Patrol," Graham attested. "
"If the investigative work and the work of Kevin Zoellner had not been letter perfect, there would have been a chance at a successful appeal. But his work and that of his team was so meticulously done -- it was perfection, and that shows now that the Missouri Supreme court voted unanimously to affirm Shockley's conviction."
Graham credits the work of Col. Roger Stottlemyre of the patrol with heading up the investigation that led to the arrest and conviction of Lance Shockley.
"You just don't find a better man to get the job done. He promised me that every "i" would be dotted and every "t" would be crossed, and they were. It could not have been done any better."
While Carl Graham, Sr., always had a deep respect for the members of the Highway Patrol, that respect only grew following the death of his son. Within an hour of being notified of the murder, the Graham house in rural Dexter filled with uniformed officers and those out of uniform who received the news and appeared at Carl and Beverly Graham's doorstep. They offered condolences. They offered hugs. They shed their tears, and they offered prayers.
"It was the most amazing display of affection and support that we could have ever imagined," Graham recalled. "The Patrol is family to me. That's all I can say. They are a family of brotherhood."
When it came time to prosecute Shockley, Assistant Attorney General Kevin Zoellner and his team successfully took on the task.
"They left no stone unturned," Graham said. "He did a superb job, and continues to do a superb job."
It was Zoellner on the other end of the line when Graham got the news of the Supreme Court decision Tuesday.
A stretch of Highway 60 in Stoddard County is dedicated to the late Sgt. Graham. His father credits former Sen. Rob Mayer and Rep. Billy Pat Wright with that accomplishment.
"No one asked them to do that," Graham noted. "They just took it upon themselves and got it done. There have been so many people like that who have supported us and helped us through this. None of them will be forgotten."
"Dewayne was a super kid," his father said Tuesday, "more so than I ever knew until after he was gone. I found out things that he had done for people and accomplishments that he'd made that he'd never mentioned. But that's the kind of person Dewayne was."
Dewayne Graham was one of three sons born to Carl Graham and his first wife, Donna. Two other sons died at birth.
"So, he was something special," his father said.