Missouri Gov. Mike Parson commuted the prison sentence of a former Kansas City police officer who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a Black man
Parson announced his decision to free former police detective Eric DeValkenaere from prison in a press release Friday afternoon that included numerous other individuals receiving a commutation or pardon. He did not explain his reasoning, but has long hinted he planned to make the controversial decision before he leaves office next month.
DeValkenaere, who is white, was serving a six-year prison sentence. He was convicted in 2021 of killing 26-year-old Cameron Lamb.
On the morning of Dec. 3, 2019, DeValkenaere responded to a request over his police radio to check out a driver who had been speeding through city streets. The driver, Lamb, had pulled his pickup truck into a driveway and was backing into a garage.
DeValkenaere, who was not in a police uniform, knocked down a makeshift fence to enter the property. Nine seconds later he shot Lamb, who was sitting in his pickup and had just placed a phone call.
DeValkenaere said he fired when Lamb pointed a gun at his partner. Police reportedly found Lamb in his truck, hanging out the driver’s side window and a handgun on the ground near his left hand.
Prosecutors have contended the gun was planted.
Jackson County Judge J. Dale Youngs convicted DeValkenaere of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. The officer had no legal right to enter Lamb’s property, he ruled, and the shooting was unconstitutional.
Since then, an appeals court panel has upheld the verdict. The Missouri Supreme Court refused to review the case. A federal judge ruled in a civil case that DeValkenaere violated Lamb’s constitutional rights.
DeValkenaere’s official commutation document, signed by Parson, places him on parole, “subject to the conditions imposed by the Parole Board
Critics of Parson’s decision noted he has routinely refused to intervene in wrongful conviction cases involving Black men.
“While Eric DeValkenaere gets to spend Christmas with his family, the three children of Cameron Lamb will never see their father again,” said House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat. “There is no justice here.”
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