Throughout Lance Shockley’s last moments in Missouri’s execution chamber in October 2025, he wished his daughter, an ordained minister, by his aspect as his religious adviser.
A number of years earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court docket had expanded non secular rights for the condemned, saying religious advisers may accompany them into the execution chamber and will contact them whereas praying aloud.
However the Missouri Division of Corrections refused Shockley his chosen religious adviser, and he died alone.
It was the second time Missouri officers had denied somebody their religious adviser of their dying moments. But, the state permitted eight different non secular leaders to take a seat and pray throughout the loss of life chamber throughout executions, an inconsistency that advocates mentioned lacked compassion within the wake of the Supreme Court docket determination.
The presence of religious advisers at executions has been a query in a number of states. Lately, the U.S. Supreme Court docket has favored non secular freedoms inside and past jail partitions. In its 2022 ruling in Ramirez v. Collier, the courtroom mentioned a condemned man in Texas may have a religious adviser who was allowed to put palms on him and pray out loud whereas he was put to loss of life.
The courtroom’s 8-1 determination was rooted within the First Modification and the Non secular Land Use and Institutionalized Individuals Act, which gives non secular protections for incarcerated people. The justices urged states to undertake insurance policies streamlining the method for permitting religious advisers into execution chambers.
The Missouri Division of Corrections ignored the courtroom’s recommendation and has not up to date its execution protocols, which have been final adopted in 2013.
A scarcity of clear insurance policies allows the corrections division to disclaim advisers arbitrarily, mentioned Megan Crane, co-director of the MacArthur Justice Middle, a nonprofit civil rights group.
“We’re speaking about constitutional rights in somebody’s dying moments,” she mentioned.
The Missouri Division of Corrections has allowed some individuals to have religious advisers. In 2022, the Rev. Darryl Grey positioned his hand on Kevin Johnson’s shoulder and prayed whereas he was being executed. Grey, a St. Louis minister, was the primary religious adviser within the state permitted to take a seat with somebody being put to loss of life.
Grey later mentioned Johnson’s final phrases have been, “They didn’t take my dignity.” Because the drug flowed, he felt Johnson develop chilly. He prayed earlier than corrections officers led him out of the chamber.
13 states have carried out executions for the reason that Ramirez v. Collier determination, in keeping with knowledge compiled by the Loss of life Penalty Data Middle, a nonprofit group that tracks capital punishment within the U.S. However the best way every state has dealt with religious advisers has assorted. Some allowed an adviser even earlier than the courtroom’s determination. Others have up to date their insurance policies to spell out what religious advisers are allowed to do. Some, like Missouri, are obscure. Theirs solely says the individual dealing with loss of life can have as much as two clergy members as witnesses.
Questions have additionally surfaced as states undertake execution strategies like nitrogen fuel and firing squads. And what’s permitted on paper isn’t at all times what unfolds within the chamber.
Missouri makes use of deadly injection to hold out executions. Leonard “Raheem” Taylor, who was Muslim, wished an imam by his aspect at his 2023 execution. The jail denied his request as a result of he had beforehand signed a type saying he didn’t need witnesses. Taylor’s attorneys argued he had been informed the shape was for members of the family, and he didn’t need any family members to witness his loss of life. When the attorneys introduced the problem as much as the jail, they have been knowledgeable it was too late. Court docket paperwork present officers gave conflicting deadlines for requesting a religious adviser.
In response to a letter from the warden, the imam had been cleared to go to Taylor on the morning of his execution, however he couldn’t be within the chamber “attributable to institutional safety considerations associated to altering the protocol at this late hour.”
Taylor died alone.
“I don’t assume it’s very compassionate,” Kevin Schriener, one in all Taylor’s attorneys, just lately mentioned. “I believe preparations may have been made.”
Shockley’s two daughters had beforehand been ordained and one in all them is a full-time missionary. He wished one in all them to carry out communion and anoint him with oil earlier than the execution. He wished the opposite to be within the chamber with him.
The Division of Corrections has a coverage permitting prisoners to request a religious adviser who’s additionally a member of the family, however mentioned it doesn’t apply to these below a loss of life warrant. The jail denied Shockley’s request, saying that members of the family pose a hazard as a result of they may attempt to dislodge the IV line that delivers the deadly drug.
Legal professionals for Shockley, who was sentenced to loss of life in 2009, famous that his daughters had been visiting him in jail since they have been younger women with none points.
Division of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann mentioned a state statute prohibits family members from serving as religious advisers to these dealing with execution.
Nevertheless, Joseph Welling, an lawyer and professor at Saint Louis College’s legislation faculty, mentioned the courts have by no means interpreted the statute to say that.
Heidi Moore, government director of Missourians to Abolish the Loss of life Penalty, mentioned the state’s failure to replace its coverage is a dereliction of obligation.
The Rev. Jeff Hood, who has been a religious adviser to males on loss of life rows in 5 states, mentioned different states have a extra outlined course of. However even when states enable an adviser, some have particular guidelines on bodily contact. For instance, in Oklahoma, the adviser is allowed to the touch the individual’s foot, in keeping with Division of Corrections spokeswoman Kay Thompson.
In 2024, Alabama launched nitrogen hypoxia as an execution methodology. Louisiana adopted go well with the subsequent 12 months. Each states enacted insurance policies permitting religious advisers within the chamber, they usually should signal a type acknowledging the dangers ought to the fuel leak. Their insurance policies additionally specify when an individual dealing with execution has to request an adviser.
Within the weeks main as much as Jessie Hoffman Jr.’s execution in March in Louisiana, the Rev. Reimoku Gregory Smith, a novice Zen priest, turned his religious adviser. They shaped a relationship primarily based on fact, authenticity and braveness, Smith mentioned.
Within the chamber, Smith knew he was not allowed to the touch Hoffman. As an alternative, he sat a few ft away in a sq. that had been taped off. He was allowed to chant for 5 minutes — not sufficient time to complete the prayer — after the fuel had been turned on.
Smith mentioned that religious advisers are essential as a result of they function compassionate witnesses. For him, that meant seeing Hoffman for the person he had turn into and, in his last moments, dealing with impermanence with him with out concern. Smith officiated Hoffman’s funeral, the place he highlighted Hoffman’s religious transformation.
In 2025, South Carolina started utilizing firing squads. It additionally makes use of deadly injection. The individual dealing with loss of life can choose two witnesses — an lawyer, a religious adviser or a member of the family. Most have chosen their lawyer as the primary witness, with the second alternative cut up between a relative and a religious adviser, in keeping with Jeffrey Collins, an Related Press reporter who has attended the previous seven executions for the reason that state restarted executing individuals in 2024. Non secular advisers haven’t been within the chamber whatever the methodology, he mentioned.
Even when there’s a coverage, what occurs in apply might not be what an adviser expects.
The Rev. Bri-anne Swan wrestled with turning into a religious adviser to her longtime good friend Ramiro Gonzalez in Texas. She nervous that by agreeing to be his adviser, she would turn into complicit in his execution, an act that she thought-about abhorrent. Finally, she wished to be there in order that he would really feel love in his last second.
At Gonzalez’s execution in 2024, Swan thought she had permission from the jail to carry his proper hand, however after they have been within the chamber, his hand was tethered to the gurney with a bandage, and she or he wasn’t in a position to grasp it. Not with the ability to maintain his hand was one of the vital heartbreaking components of the method, Swan mentioned.
Robert Dunham, an lawyer and director of the Loss of life Penalty Coverage Undertaking, mentioned religious advisers within the context of executions are a matter of constitutional rights — and human decency.
“It’s the respectable factor to do, to adjust to these non secular requests,” Dunham mentioned. “It’s one thing that states shouldn’t be opposing.”
