Shockley attorneys granted motion to withdraw from case

VAN BUREN, Mo. — Lance Shockley may have to wait a while longer to stand trial for the murder of a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper the state alleges he committed in 2005.

On Wednesday, Judge David Evans granted a motion by Shockley's public defenders to withdraw from the case, meaning Shockley will now have to be assigned a new defense team, a process which will likely lengthen the amount of time before the case goes to trial.

Shockley is charged in the shooting death of Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr. outside his home near Van Buren on March 20, 2005. Shockley was allegedly a suspect in Graham's investigation into a fatal hit-and-run in 2004.

The motion was granted after the judge and defense attorneys met for about an hour in closed court in Carter County. The judge granted the motion, citing only "confidential communications."

Look for more on this story later at seMissourian.com or in Thursday's print edition of the Southeast Missourian.