Missouri
Bipartisan effort in Missouri legislature seeks to end death penalty
There are 32 attorneys, investigators and specialists in the Missouri State Public Defender Office dedicated to preventing the wrongful execution of innocent people on death row.
The agency spends almost $3 million each year on salaries for these personnel, said Matthew Crowell, director of Missouri’s public defender system.
“We’re also using 16 of my best and most experienced attorneys to handle 11 cases out of 90,000,” Crowell said.
Guards, parole officers and other corrections staff also spend years of their working lives alongside Missourians who are sentenced to death — supervising them in the visiting room and locking them up for bad behavior.
And these staff “are still watching the state take the life of that person,” said Dr. Heidi Moore, executive director of Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty and a former institutional parole officer in Potosi Correctional Center.
As Missouri lawmakers this week once again consider a bill that would abolish the death penalty, religious leaders, advocates and a former lawmaker urged them to heed the financial and human costs of capital punishment in the state.
The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Jim Murphy of St. Louis County, would mandate a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for people convicted of first-degree murder or other serious crimes. It would not alter the sentences of Missourians already on death row.
Lawmakers have sponsored similar bills in each of the past five years. Murphy’s bill did not get a committee hearing last year.
Since 1973, at least 202 people nationwide have been exonerated after being sentenced to death, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In Missouri, four people have been acquitted or had their charges dropped after receiving the death sentence since 1999.
“The state, frankly, makes mistakes,” Murphy told reporters.
But it was the experience of a victim’s family that led Murphy to change his position on the death penalty, he said.
During his first run for office eight years ago, he spoke with a man who witnessed the killing of his parents in their house as a child.
The man opposed the death penalty because the mandatory appeals process for capital sentences delayed closure for him and his family, Murphy said. Missouri law requires the state Supreme Court to review all death sentences, giving the court the choice of affirming the trial court’s sentence, re-sentencing or remanding the case to the lower court.
“The next 15 years, over and over and over again, he and his family were dragged back to court, appeal after appeal after appeal,” Murphy said.
The man told Murphy the state should do away with the death penalty.
“We can’t continue to relive this,” he told Murphy.
Financial and human costs
Two religious leaders testified in support of the bill, citing the sanctity of life and urging against irreversible punishment.
Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski of the Archdiocese of St. Louis described the death penalty as “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the human person” and quoted Pope John Paul II, who during a 1999 trip to St. Louis urged the abolition of the death penalty and called on people to be “unconditionally pro-life.”
The death penalty, Rozanski said, also “deprives the offender of the opportunity of redemption.”
Advocates and members of the legal team for Lance Shockley — a man who was convicted in 2009 of murdering a Missouri State Highway patrolman, insisted on his innocence and was executed in October — argued last year that his work as a mentor to fellow inmates in Potosi should have qualified him to continue that role while incarcerated.
Republican state Rep. Barry Hovis of Whitewater said he was concerned that there would be no possibility of meaningful consequences for people sentenced to life without parole who might kill a fellow incarcerated person or guard.
“They’re not going to be able to get to double life without parole,” Hovis said.
Clifton Davis, representing Missouri Justice Coalition, told committee members that while he was an inmate in the state’s Department of Corrections, most of the men he met who had received death sentences were housed in the honor dorm as a reward for good behavior.
“Yes, men on death row violated the rules, like all of us violate the rules, but I don’t know a single case of a man on death row killing anyone,” Davis said. “I do know individuals who were not on death row that have killed other offenders while they were serving sentences that were parolable.”
The Rev. Brian Kaylor, a Baptist minister from Jefferson City, encouraged lawmakers to “do what’s best for the state.”
“What is actually justice?” Kaylor asked. “What is actually fiscally responsible? What is actually going to work?”
Crowell, of the state public defender’s office, told lawmakers that abolishing the death penalty would allow his agency to devote more resources to other cases and services that could keep people out of the criminal justice system.
“I’d be able to reassign the capital attorneys and staff to our many non-death penalty clients throughout the state and to recidivism-reducing programs,” Crowell said. “… Missourians would get far more value for their dollar.”
But Republican state Rep. Jim Kalberloh of Lowry City said victims’ families should be able to express to prosecutors if they want to pursue the death penalty.
While that’s ultimately the prosecutor’s choice, Crowell said, prosecutors often look to families’ wishes for guidance.
“That’s the way it should be,” Kalberloh said. “If they don’t want [the death penalty], then we ought not to do that. If they do want it, I don’t know that I want to take that choice away.”
Davis said what he hears from supporters of the death penalty is always, “what about the victims?”
“Well,” he said, “there’s a lot of things we could do to reduce victims.”
Prospects
The bill has bipartisan support that spans both legislative chambers.
Democratic state Rep. Steve Butz of St. Louis told reporters he supports Murphy’s bill, partly because of his experience of his sister’s murder 15 years ago.
Butz’s dad told prosecutors he didn’t want to pursue the death penalty.
“He said, ‘My faith says all life is sacred, even this murderer’s life,’” Butz said.
Republican state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman of Arnold told reporters that vengeance is not the same as justice. She is sponsoring a bill that would keep judges from deciding on the death penalty in cases when there is a hung jury.
“If we are a pro-life state, and I believe that we are,” Coleman said, “we need to be protecting even those who deserve it the least.”
This story was first published at missouriindependent.com.
The Missouri Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at April 23, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 23 drawing
Midday: 4-4-6
Midday Wild: 7
Evening: 7-4-7
Evening Wild: 4
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from April 23 drawing
Midday: 5-4-9-4
Midday Wild: 6
Evening: 2-4-5-4
Evening Wild: 3
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from April 23 drawing
Early Bird: 10
Morning: 01
Matinee: 11
Prime Time: 13
Night Owl: 04
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Show Me Cash numbers from April 23 drawing
01-12-15-21-23
Check Show Me Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Missouri Lottery retailers can redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners have the option to submit their claim by mail or in person at one of Missouri Lottery’s regional offices, by appointment only.
To claim by mail, complete a Missouri Lottery winner claim form, sign your winning ticket, and include a copy of your government-issued photo ID along with a completed IRS Form W-9. Ensure your name, address, telephone number and signature are on the back of your ticket. Claims should be mailed to:
Ticket Redemption
Missouri Lottery
P.O. Box 7777
Jefferson City, MO 65102-7777
For in-person claims, visit the Missouri Lottery Headquarters in Jefferson City or one of the regional offices in Kansas City, Springfield or St. Louis. Be sure to call ahead to verify hours and check if an appointment is required.
For additional instructions or to download the claim form, visit the Missouri Lottery prize claim page.
When are the Missouri Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Pick 4: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Cash4Life: 8 p.m. daily.
- Cash Pop: 8 a.m. (Early Bird), 11 a.m. (Late Morning), 3 p.m. (Matinee), 7 p.m. (Prime Time) and 11 p.m. (Night Owl) daily.
- Show Me Cash: 8:59 p.m. daily.
- Lotto: 8:59 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
- Powerball Double Play: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Missouri editor. You can send feedback using this form.
Overly optimistic predictions for revenue from the lottery and casino taxes will cost Missouri school districts $245 per pupil before the fiscal year ends in June. And state lawmakers are now building next year’s budget around other funding sources that may prove just as uncertain.
The Missouri Senate on Wednesday approved a spending plan for K-12 education that dips into money set aside for renovations on the state Capitol Building. During debate, state Sen. Rusty Black, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he’s received no assurance from House Budget Committee Chairman Dirk Deaton that he will agree to the diversion or promises from Gov. Mike Kehoe that the spending will be approved if it is in the final budget.
“Have you talked to the second floor?” state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Republican from Springfield, asked Black, referring to Kehoe’s office.
“No guarantees,” said Black, a Republican from Chillicothe.
“What if he vetoes that,” Hough asked a little later in the discussion.
“Anybody that sent me a thank you for doing this would probably want their thank you back,” Black replied.
The Senate budget uses $118 million from the Missouri State Capitol Commission to close a gap in the foundation formula, the basic state aid program for public schools. Another $15.2 million was added to school transportation funding.
Most of the $4.3 billion for the foundation formula and $361.5 million for transportation in the current budget comes from the general revenue fund. The remainder is provided by lottery revenue, casino taxes and other funds.
The formula is designed to provide school districts enough money so each district can spend an amount for each student that is similar to that being spent on high-performing districts. Called the state adequacy target, it is $7,145 during the current fiscal year.
“It is unlikely that the amount of revenue received from lottery, cigarette tax and gaming funds will meet the amount appropriated,” the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education said in a statement to The Independent.
The department predicts a shortfall of approximately $138 million from those funds in total. That would reduce the amount paid on the state adequacy target from $7,145 to just over $6,900.
State Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Republican from Springfield, speaks Wednesday on the Senate’s budget proposal Wednesday (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
The appropriation bill for the education department was the first of 12 spending bills to fund state government operations approved Wednesday in the Senate. Democrats opposed many of the bills, sometimes picking up one or two Republicans but never putting any bill in danger of failing to receive the 18 votes needed.
Some of the major differences with the budget plan approved last month in the Missouri House are:
- Reversing a radical overhaul of higher education funding that took all of the direct support for community colleges and state universities and redistributed it based on full-time student counts. Some schools would have received substantial increases, like an additional $30 million for Missouri State University in Springfield, while others, like Lincoln University in Jefferson City and Truman State University in Kirksville, would be cut by up to 50%.
- Restoring money cut from child care subsidies.
- Moving about $61 million in funding for state information technology support to the Department of Social Services to help the department prepare for implementation of new federal welfare program rules and meet client service requirements.
- Cutting $42 million for payments on a trouble-plagued accounting system, instead setting aside about $5 million to revamp and revise the system while keeping the older system intact as a backup.
The next action on the 12 bills will be a conference with members of the House and Senate negotiating differences between the two spending plans. After the bills passed, Black said he will turn to four bills for construction and maintenance of state facilities, including a reappropriation bill for ongoing projects, next week.
All spending bills must be passed by May 8.
The Senate budget for operations uses $48.8 billion from all funds, including $15.5 billion from general revenue. That is $1.7 billion less overall than the versions passed in the House last month and $3.3 billion less than requested by Kehoe in January.
Much of the apparent savings is from shifting large ongoing projects, like a $1.7 billion broadband construction program, the reappropriations bill.
The general revenue portion remains in deficit to expected revenues of $13.6 billion and would require $1.9 billion from accumulated surpluses to sustain spending.
Hough, with support from Democrats, wanted to dip deeper into the surplus, which stood at $3 billion on March 31, because the foundation formula is short of what state law says should be spent by $190 million.
Hough’s amendment to add the money failed on a 10-20 vote. No other Republicans voted for the amendment.
The formula is underfunded because the budget does not allow for extra weight given to some student needs in a bill passed in 2024 and does not fund the incentive for schools to maintain five-day weeks.
“Missourians deserve better than the budget that we have presented before us,” state Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, a Kansas City Democrat, said as the day of debate neared its conclusion. “The reason why is, over the last decade, there have been special tax breaks all over the place for the wealthy and the well connected.”
The state would have an additional $3.8 billion in revenue if those tax cuts had not been passed, Nurrenbern said.
“A lot of these problems in our budget really are self-inflicted,” Nurrenbern said.
The difficulties in sustaining school funding in the current year — and the need to tap funds set aside four years ago for expanding the capitol — is due to overly optimistic projections for spending lottery proceeds and casino taxes.
Money from the lottery is also tapped to provide a portion of the budget for school transportation, community colleges and four-year universities. When they wrote the budget currently being used during last year’s session, lawmakers decided the lottery should provide $410.5 million.
It was the third year in a row that the lottery was asked to provide more than $400 million. In the first two years, the revenue was $389.8 million and $337.5 million. So far this year, lottery revenue is up 4%, a pace that would provide about $350 million, leaving it $60 million short of appropriations.
Casino revenue, which is exclusively used in the public school formula, was penciled in to provide $385 million, or $22 million more than taxes on gambling losses provided in fiscal 2025. Casino revenue is up about 7% and could reach that amount.
The House-passed budget maintains the optimistic projections for lottery and casino revenue and saves general revenue in the formula by using $64.7 million in accumulated surpluses in the Blind Pension Fund as directed by the Missouri Constitution.
The Senate plan cut expectations for lottery, casino and other revenue in favor of the capitol commission funds. It restores general revenue cut in the House and leaves the Blind Pension Fund untouched.
Unlike the dispute over funding public schools, the action to reverse the House plan for higher education won bipartisan approval.
“When we go to conference, we absolutely cannot back down on this,” Nurrenbern said.
And Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican who represents Truman State University, said she would not go along with the House plan.
“The idea we would just summarily cut half of their funding seemed horrible to me and one that I would not back,” she said.
In the budget debate that extended over almost nine hours, items large and small were singled out for questioning. In the Department of Natural Resources budget, it was $2 million to buy flood-prone farmland in Jefferson County for conversion to a park.
The earmark appeared for the first time in the new version of the bill Black brought to the floor. Nurrenbern said it should have been discussed in the appropriations committee.
“This causes me a lot of consternation to see $2 million for general revenue to go to something like this,” she said.
In the Department of Agriculture, it was $20 million for moving a road at the State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, a project that has quadrupled in cost since it was first requested by Kehoe.
Black tapped interest accumulated in the money set aside for widening Interstate 70 for that project. Using those funds has the blessing of Kehoe’s office, he said.
“I wouldn’t necessarily call it a governor’s amendment, but whenever they brought this to me a week ago, they said that they would support that money coming out of that fund,” Black said.
The House tried to sweep all the accumulated interest into the general revenue fund but Black reversed that decision in the Senate budget plan.
Nurrenbern said it was an example of Republicans finding money when they supported spending while pleading poverty when other programs need money.
“When we have limited resources and we have to make tough choices,” Nurrenbern said, “it seems like these are priorities of the Republican Party to prioritize building this road in Sedalia for the State Fair versus doing investments for our people across our state.”
The final sharp debate of the evening came on how the state is using $50 million dedicated to a school voucher program called MOScholars. Eligible students can receive an amount equal to the state adequacy target to support a private education.
Senate Minority Leader Doug Beck, a Democrat from Affton, criticized State Treasurer Vivek Malek, who administers the program, for allowing data on individual voucher recipients to be posted on his office website for nearly a year while denying that such data was available.
The Independent reported on the data breach this week after informing Malek’s office the information was available and allowing him time to remove it from view.
“Why is the treasurer running this program?” Beck said. “Why is he doing this when literally has no idea what’s going on? He has not a clue how to do this and not a clue how to run this program.”
Beck said he has been seeking information for many months about whether current or former members of the General Assembly were benefiting from the program. He offered an amendment to the treasurer’s budget to deny salary payments to any elected official or state employee who does not report voucher benefits on required financial disclosure statements. The amendment was defeated.
That disclosure proposal was not as broad as Beck thinks it should be, he said.
“We should know,” Beck said, “any taxpayer who receives $7,500, or whatever the case may be, from this program. That should be disclosed.”
The Missouri Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at April 22, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Powerball numbers from April 22 drawing
24-29-32-49-63, Powerball: 11, Power Play: 2
Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 3 numbers from April 22 drawing
Midday: 5-0-0
Midday Wild: 2
Evening: 5-8-3
Evening Wild: 3
Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Pick 4 numbers from April 22 drawing
Midday: 9-4-7-4
Midday Wild: 3
Evening: 5-8-6-8
Evening Wild: 1
Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Cash Pop numbers from April 22 drawing
Early Bird: 12
Morning: 05
Matinee: 13
Prime Time: 07
Night Owl: 07
Check Cash Pop payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Show Me Cash numbers from April 22 drawing
16-18-22-23-26
Check Show Me Cash payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Powerball Double Play numbers from April 22 drawing
03-09-15-35-57, Powerball: 19
Check Powerball Double Play payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize
All Missouri Lottery retailers can redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes over $600, winners have the option to submit their claim by mail or in person at one of Missouri Lottery’s regional offices, by appointment only.
To claim by mail, complete a Missouri Lottery winner claim form, sign your winning ticket, and include a copy of your government-issued photo ID along with a completed IRS Form W-9. Ensure your name, address, telephone number and signature are on the back of your ticket. Claims should be mailed to:
Ticket Redemption
Missouri Lottery
P.O. Box 7777
Jefferson City, MO 65102-7777
For in-person claims, visit the Missouri Lottery Headquarters in Jefferson City or one of the regional offices in Kansas City, Springfield or St. Louis. Be sure to call ahead to verify hours and check if an appointment is required.
For additional instructions or to download the claim form, visit the Missouri Lottery prize claim page.
When are the Missouri Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 10 p.m. Tuesday and Friday.
- Pick 3: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Pick 4: 12:45 p.m. (Midday) and 8:59 p.m. (Evening) daily.
- Cash4Life: 8 p.m. daily.
- Cash Pop: 8 a.m. (Early Bird), 11 a.m. (Late Morning), 3 p.m. (Matinee), 7 p.m. (Prime Time) and 11 p.m. (Night Owl) daily.
- Show Me Cash: 8:59 p.m. daily.
- Lotto: 8:59 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday.
- Powerball Double Play: 9:59 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Missouri editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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