Slain Van Buren officer's father disappointed at latest trial delay

VAN BUREN, Mo. -- For the family of slain Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Dewayne Graham, it's like they lose their son over and over again. That was the sentiment of Carl Graham of Dexter, Mo., as he left the Carter County courthouse in Van Buren on Wednesday. The presiding judge in the case accusing Lance Shockley in the shooting death of Graham's son in March 2005 had dismissed the defense attorneys from the case.

"We went to court thinking we were just going to hear some routine motions, and we left once again disheartened," said the senior Graham, "not with the judicial system as such, but with the realization that once again we are in a delayed state, and Shockley seems to be the one calling the shots."

The delay came when Judge David Evans accepted a sealed motion from Shockley's two defense attorneys, Jan Zembles and Tom Marshall, requesting that they both be pulled from the case.

"The motion was sealed and so the family doesn't really get to know the reasoning behind the dismissal," Graham said after leaving the courtroom.

Fifteen family members were in the courtroom for Wednesday's proceedings, which they had expected to involve motions in preparation for the scheduled Aug. 11 trial date. That date is now off the docket and Graham estimates that a date for the trial will likely come sometime next year.

"You can't blame the judge," Graham said. "He's just doing what he had to do. It's just so difficult to start all over again, which is basically what we'll be doing now with this motion having been granted."

Judge Evans' acceptance of the motion to release the defense attorneys once again begins a process of appointing new representation for Shockley through the public defender's office in Ironton, Mo.

"We wasted a full year and a half in a Cape County court before Judge William Syler recused himself," Graham said.

In the meantime, according to Graham, Shockley has been transferred from one facility to another over the past two years, having served time in Cape Girardeau, St. Genevieve, Mississippi and Howell counties. The moves have come, at the request of Shockley and of his attorneys, according to Graham.

Shockley was transported to Van Buren for Wednesday's proceedings from a facility in Springfield, Mo.

Less than a month ago Evans told a filled courtroom, after denying a motion by Shockley's attorneys to dismiss all charges, that he had set the trial date nearly a year in advance to allow plenty of time for depositions and preparations and that it was his intention to begin the trial Aug. 11.

"Mr. Shockley has been sitting here for three years," Evans stated during the June 11 proceedings, "and the family has also been waiting a long time."

That waiting game has now been extended once again. But Graham said that it will not deter the family from forging ahead and making their presence known at every proceeding.

"We'll be here till the last dog comes in," he said.

Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham was 37 years old when he was shot to death in front of his rural home near Van Buren, where he served with the Missouri State Highway Patrol as zone supervisor. Lance Shockley was arrested within days of the killing and was charged with the crime. Shockley allegedly had played a part in a hit-and-run accident that had been under investigation by Sgt. Graham at the time of the shooting.

"The relief in all of this comes in the form of support from not only friends and neighbors, but local officials and especially law enforcement personnel from across the state," Carl Graham Sr. said.