Death penalty sought for man accused of killing Independence police officer, court worker

A prosecutor told a judge Wednesday that they intend to seek the death penalty for Larry Acree, the man accused of fatally shooting an Independence police officer and a Jackson County court employee during an eviction.

In a brief hearing held by video conference Wednesday afternoon, Jeremy Baldwin, assistant prosecuting attorney, told the presiding judge that the prosecutor’s officer planned to file the death penalty notice.

Acree’s attorney, Edward Berrigan of the Missouri State Public Defender’s office, asked for a continuance so that the public defenders who handle such cases could be reassigned.

A grand jury has indicted Acree on 18 felonies relating to the shooting that killed Independence police officer Cody Allen and Jackson County civil process server Drexel Mack on Feb. 29. Two other Independence officers were also injured in the shooting.

Platte County Judge Megan B. Benton, assigned to preside over the case, scheduled Acree to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. July 10 at the Jackson County Courthouse in Independence.

Shortly after the hearing, the Jackson County prosecutors sent out a news release announcing it was seeking the death penalty.

“Today’s notice states the supporting criminal aggravating circumstances that the state will prove in seeking the death penalty in this case,” Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a written statement. “Despite the high public interest in this matter, we will not make further public comment while this case is pending.”

Prosecutors in the Kansas City region have rarely sought the death penalty in recent years. In March 2023, Clay County prosecutors filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty in the case against Joshua Rocha. He was charged with first-degree murder in the 2022 shooting death of North Kansas City police officer Daniel Vasquez, and is scheduled to go to trial in September 2025.

Eleven people are on death row in Missouri. Those convictions were out of Butler, Camden, Carter, Cole, Green, Jefferson, Phelps, St. Charles and St. Louis counties, according to the Missouri Department of Corrections.

One man faces a June 11 execution date.

The state has ramped up its use of the death penalty, executing four people last year and a man last month.

‘Outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman’

In a court filing Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors listed seven reasons as to why the case warranted the death penalty.

Prosecutors said they intend to prove in the second stage of trial that the killings of Allen and Mack were committed while Acree was attempting or was committing another unlawful homicide; while Acree knowingly created “a great risk of death” to more than one person, and was “outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhumane,” according to the court filing.

Prosecutors also said Allen’s killing involved a police officer doing his official duty, according to the court document.

Acree, 70, faces two counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of first-degree assault and nine counts of armed criminal action.

Lost home over back taxes

The mass shooting occurred as Mack and two other people arrived at Acree’s home in northeast Independence on Feb. 29 to carry out an eviction. Acree had lost his home over back taxes, court records show.

Gunfire erupted from inside the home after the court employees knocked and a contractor drilled out a lock on the front door. Mack was struck.

As three Independence police officers responded to the shooting, one of them, Allen, was also fatally shot. Two other officers were injured before Acree was taken into custody.

Acree remains in Jackson County jail on a $2 million cash bond.