It’s now inevitable that former Kansas City Police Detective Eric J. DeValkenaere, convicted in 2021 for fatally shooting a Black man who had just returned home, will not serve out his 6-year prison sentence.
He’ll barely serve one year of it. Missouri’s Gov.-Elect Mike Kehoe, a friend of the imprisoned cop and his wife, told reporters last week he’ll commute DeValkenaere’s sentence once he takes office. That is unless Missouri’s current Gov. Mike Parson doesn’t pardon him first.
“I’ve met Sarah and Eric before he was imprisoned – and I would say wrongly,” Kehoe said last week. “I believe we need to have Eric’s back. I’ve been very vocal in saying should I succeed in running for governor, Eric DeValkenaere will be home with his family. I still am hopeful and prayerful that happens before I get into the governor’s office.”
Back in September, Parson said he, too, was inclined to release DeValkenaere, 45, telling a Kansas City radio station that the case had been politicized by an overzealous prosecutor.
DeValkenaere, who is white, was found guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in Lamb’s 2019 death. It marked the first time a Kansas City police officer was convicted for the killing of a Black man.
DeValkenaere’s family filed a clemency request with the governor following the conviction, and Parson said he’d wait until after the election to decide the officer’s fate.
“But you know, I don’t like where he’s at. I’ll just say that,” Parson said in an interview with KCMO Talk Radio host Pete Mundo.
Throughout the case, the state’s Republican leadership seemed to put a thumb on the scales of justice in favor of DeValkenaere.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey argued the veteran detective’s use of deadly force was reasonable and supported an official review of the prosecution.
Lamb’s family has fought a seemingly endless battle against state powerbrokers sympathetic to DeValkenaere, who exhausted his legal challenges in March when Missouri’s Supreme Court upheld his conviction.
The court’s decision, Lamb’s mother, Laurie Bey, told the Kansas City Star, reaffirmed “that my son’s life mattered.”
DeValkenaere and his partner were responding to an alleged physical altercation between Lamb and his girlfriend although they hadn’t secured a warrant. Lamb had been chasing the woman in his red pickup but returned home after receiving a phone call from his roommate.
The officers were waiting for him, guns drawn. Lamb was backing down his driveway when the cops, dressed in plainclothes and without a warrant, interceded. Within nine seconds he would be shot dead. DeValkenaere alleged the victim had pointed a handgun at his fellow officer.
Evidence introduced at the former officer’s 2021 revealed that he had planted the gun.
“The law clearly spoke and if you wanna be the governor for the people, then let the law work for everybody,” said Lamb’s father, Aquil Bey, who, along with his wife, expressed concern over the new governor’s friendship with the DeValkenaeres.
“He was not privileged. We’re not privileged,” Aquil Bey said. “I’ve worked hard every day of my son’s life you know and no matter what, this would not be the outcome.”
A spokesperson for Kehoe said the governor-elect met DeValkenaere before his incarceration through the Kansas City lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police. He said their relationship would not impact his decision.
“Any action that may be taken by Kehoe in the Governor’s Office would be due to the unjust sentencing Eric received by a woke prosecutor, not their friendship,” said Kehoe’s spokesperson.
Those words cut especially deep to Lamb’s parents.
“We used to say it’s a slap in the face what they doing, but they put a double punch in the gut with this situation,” Aquil Bey said.
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