JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (WGEM) - Gov. Mike Kehoe denied clemency in the first execution of his tenure.

Missouri is moving forward with an execution Tuesday evening. Lance Shockley is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. in Bonne Terre. He’s convicted of murdering Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Carl Dewayne Graham Jr. in 2005.

Shockley’s is the first execution to take place since Kehoe took office as governor. Monday morning, Kehoe denied appeals to stop Shockley’s execution. In an interview with Gray Media’s Missouri Capitol Bureau, Kehoe reinforced his stance to be hard on crime.

“Folks in our state need to know that when you take someone’s life it’s serious, but when you take someone that is a public safety member, a law enforcement officer, we just won’t allow that here i

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