The family of the Black man fatally shot by the Kansas City police officer to be convicted of killing him while on duty is lauding a decision handed down by a Missouri appeals court not to overturn the conviction of the officer.
A three-judge panel ruled that Eric DeValkenaere will have to serve time for the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb.
Lamb was fatally shot in the driveway of his home in 2019 after police said he’d been involved in a high-speed pursuit of his girlfriend. DeValkenaere, the former officer who shot him, was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter and armed criminal action in 2021.
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Although DeValkenaere was convicted and sentenced to six years in prison, a judge granted him an appeal bond after his attorneys filed an appeal request, allowing him to remain free from prison while the appeals process was ongoing.
That process, which took nearly two years, was finalized this week, and it was determined that his conviction still stands.
According to the ruling, DeValkenaere couldn’t sufficiently challenge the trial court’s verdict in his case. The judges called one of his points on appeal “a jumbled argument” after he attempted to dispute the trial court’s conclusion that the shooting was not justified.
“Devalkenaere argues that he cannot be convicted of armed criminal action if his conviction for involuntary manslaughter was in error. Because DeValkenaere has failed to establish error with respect to his conviction for involuntary manslaughter, his arguments regarding his armed criminal action conviction also fail,” the ruling reads.
DeValkenaere also apparently argued that he acted with criminal negligence in order to downgrade his manslaughter charge. The appeals judges stated that his behavior on the day of the shooting conflicted with his training and “many KCPD policies” and that evidence, including DeValkenaere’s own testimony, showed that he intended to fire his gun and shoot Lamb.
Lamb’s family, who had been waiting years to learn DeValkenaere’s fate, celebrated the court’s decision.
“I could not believe it, however, I felt like we finally got the answer that we were gonna get,” Laurie Bey, Lamb’s mother, told KSHB 41 News.
“We don’t want to see nobody who’s so instrumental in the protection and the livelihood of their family taken away, especially a father, but we also don’t want to see nobody that so blatantly breaks the law and think that they’re not gonna be held accountable,” Aquil Bey, Lamb’s father, said.
During the appeals process, DeValkenaere was backed by state officials like the Kansas attorney general. Several reports also surfaced indicating that Gov. Mike Parson was considering granting DeValkenaere clemency, but they were rumors he denied.
“When one of the most conservative appellate court panels upholds the conviction of a police officer despite the unethical, even unlawful interference of the Missouri Attorney General, a clear message has been sent: Eric DeValkenaere is guilty of the homicide of Cameron Lamb,” said Steve Young, a founder of the Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project of KC LEAP. “We eagerly await for the moment DeValkenaere is taken into custody and treated like any other convicted felon in Jackson County. One violent KCPD officer down; many to go.”
