Why didn’t prosecutors take Chiefs rally shooting to trial? Experts debate decision.
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- Two defendants pleaded to weapons charges and received two-year sentences.
- Missouri's 2016 stand your ground law fueled debate over the case.
- Jackson County prosecutors say they increasingly declined charges in self-defense cases.
Plea deals in the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs rally shooting case have fueled debate over Missouri’s stand your ground law, with attorneys and legal scholars divided over how the statute affects murder prosecutions.
Two men initially charged with murder pleaded guilty to weapons charges and received two-year sentences that included time served, while a third defendant remains set for trial in 2027.
The case has become a flashpoint in a broader debate over how Missouri’s self-defense laws are applied in violent crime prosecutions. Law professors, defense attorneys, former prosecutors and even legislators were split on how Missouri’s stand your ground law impacted the two settled cases, and whether the case should’ve proceeded to trial.
Missouri law allows people to use deadly force if they reasonably believe it is necessary to defend themselves against serious injury or death, and does not require them to retreat before using force.
While some argue that the law needs tweaks, and this case highlights why, criminal defense attorney Kevin Jamison said he disagreed.
Jamison said that there is a statute that says if two people come together to do harm to each other voluntarily, neither can claim self-defense.
“These guys can claim stand your ground as a defense, of course, but proving it’s another thing entirely,” Jamison said. “It’s a difficult case, to my knowledge, but it’s supposed to be difficult to send people to prison for the rest of their lives.”
Jamison said dozens of states have a Stand Your Ground law, with other states still having the duty to retreat that was removed in Missouri in 2016.
“They don’t claim these problems,” Jamison said.
Republican legislator and Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, went as far as saying Johnson’s argument was a “cop-out.”
“The shooters created the dangerous situation by firing into a crowded public rally,” said Luetkemeyer. “That conduct is not shielded by a self-defense claim.”
Former assistant prosecutor Claire Wyatt said cases like this often come down to what a jury believes is reasonable because of the relatively few restrictions Missouri places on carrying firearms legally.
“If they’ve gone forward with the trial and gotten a not guilty verdict, well, that’s the community deciding what kind of community they want to live in,” Wyatt said.
Wyatt pointed to provisions in Missouri law requiring force used in self-defense to be proportional to the threat faced.
“I think the idea was to argue that it is unreasonable to do that when you are in a massive crowd,” Wyatt said. “But for whatever reason, the prosecutor’s office decided not to go forward with it despite holding the accused in jail for the past two years.”
‘Back to the wild west’
Anders Walker, St. Louis University law professor, said that this is one of the best cases against the stand your ground law.
“This is what happens when the state tells everyone to carry a gun and then backs them up with robust stand your ground rules,” Walker said. “We’re back to the wild west. It sounds like a shootout at high noon, Kansas City Corral.”
Walker said the law is only part of the problem, pointing also to the widespread availability of firearms among young people. But Walker admitted, he doesn’t think there is a quick fix to the situation.
“I don’t think there’s any law that the state of Missouri would be willing to pass,” Walker said. “Jefferson City is pro-gun. We could certainly say Kansas City and St Louis and any municipality can ban handguns, that would immediately be challenged in this state.”
Walker said that cities are handcuffed in trying to stop this sort of crime from occurring because of the law, highlighting that it has become a rural town versus city argument politically.
“They’re worried about grandpa’s gun being taken from them down in Springfield,” Walker said. “I think this is what happens in a state where you have a pro-gun legislature and an inability by cities to really regulate firearms.”
Walker said it’s a problem among Republican-controlled states, if not the entire country. He highlighted New York’s work on gun regulation, which was ultimately burdened by a Supreme Court ruling from 2022 on concealed weapons in the state.
“New York had a handle on gun violence because of their strict laws, but the Supreme Court said, ‘No, everyone should carry a gun for self-defense,’” Walker said. “And this is a great story about how self-defense can become a license for complete chaos.”
Missouri’s gun law expansion
Former Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said that for over 100 years, Missouri gun laws had worked just fine, but a change happened in the early 2000s that she attributes to politics.
“It’s okay for politicians to look back at laws passed to see, did they work, or did they not work? Was there unintended harms?” Baker said. “And if you see unintended harms, it’s time to go back and take a look. Where can you draw the law in? That would be a great opportunity to keep Missourians safer.”
Baker said some of those changes started around 1999 with citizens rejecting Proposition B, which would’ve required law enforcement to issue concealed carry permits. Similar legislation was passed by lawmakers in 2003. Missouri later expanded those protections further by formally adopting a stand your ground law in 2016.
“And that’s when it took away your duty to retreat,” Baker said. “That was a real shame. Just a shame in my legal view, in my view as a community member. That’s a pretty reasonable concept.”
Missouri House Speaker Jonathan Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, said he has talked with Johnson about making changes in the law.
“We’re working on looking at language to see if there are any changes that need to be made,” Patterson said. “If there are laws that need to be changed, I would be the first to sponsor it and really push it.”
Where do the cases stand?
Terry Young and Dominic Miller, who were initially charged with second-degree murder, both pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a weapon and each received a two-year prison sentence, which included time served.
A third man, Lyndell Mays, still faces a second-degree murder charge and an additional charge of causing catastrophe and is set to stand trial in 2027.
The men were charged following the rally shooting that killed one, Lisa Lopez-Galvan. More than 20 people were shot, including nine children whose ages ranged from 6 to 15.
Johnson said after Miller’s plea hearing that Missouri’s self-defense law imposes a burden of proof that was too high for her office to secure a murder conviction.
Johnson has said for months that she has spoken with legislators about changing Missouri’s self-defense laws because of the challenges they create in prosecuting some cases.
Her office says it has increasingly declined charges in cases involving self-defense claims.
The year before Stand Your Ground became law, the prosecutor’s office declined charges in 24 cases. By comparison, the office declined to file criminal charges in 58 cases in 2025.
“This office is not soft on crime,” Johnson said during a March press conference. “We believe in being smart on crime, and part of that means changing the laws that are failing the people of Jackson County and beyond.”
The Star reporters Kacen Bayless and Jack Harvel contributed to this article.
