Only Missouri and Indiana allow judges to impose capital punishment when a jury can't decide whether to sentence a defendant to death. Lance Shockley is scheduled to be executed next week for a 2005 murder he maintains he did not commit.

A man who has insisted upon his innocence in the 2005 murder of a Missouri highway patrolman is scheduled to be executed next week, even though the jury that convicted him could not reach agreement on his death sentence.

In most states , a deadlocked jury would have resulted in a life sentence. But Missouri is one of two states, along with Indiana, that allow judges to unilaterally choose the death penalty when a jury is split on how to sentence a defendant for a capital offense.

Lance Shockley was issued a warrant of execution in June after exhau

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