(Missouri Independent) – A pardon for the only Kansas City police officer ever convicted of killing a Black man would invite a backlash dangerous to the city and police, Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker wrote in a letter Tuesday to Gov. Mike Parson.
Baker told Parson that she was reacting to reports that the governor was considering a pardon for Eric DeValkenaere, who is out of prison on bail while appealing his conviction.
Parson has made no public statements about his intentions, but Democratic legislative leaders, reacting to the same rumors, also issued statements asking Parson to refrain until the appeals process is completed.
His office did not respond to an inquiry from The Independent.
Acting before the appeal is heard “would preempt Attorney General Bailey’s defense of this conviction and subvert the rule of law,” Baker wrote.
DeValkenaere was sentenced in March 2022 to six years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action for the Dec. 3, 2019, shooting of Cameron Lamb. According to the Kansas City Star, Lamb, 26, was at home, backing his pickup truck into his garage, when DeValkenaere fired several shots, killing him.
DeValkenaere, a Kansas City Police Department officer for 20 years, was investigating a vehicle crash, responding to reports that a red pickup was chasing a purple Ford Mustang. Lamb was spotted in his truck by helicopter officers.
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.
A pardon now is an “extreme action” that “will ignite distrust, protests, and public safety concerns for citizens and for police,” Baker wrote to Parson.
Democratic legislative leaders, in statements issued Tuesday, said a pardon would destroy trust in the criminal justice system.
“By pardoning convicted killer Eric DeValkenaere, the governor not only would deny justice to the victim but shred any faith Missourians have that the law applies equally to all,” said House Minority Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield.
The leader of the Legislative Black Caucus, Rep. Marlene Terry of Florissant, said a pardon would perpetuate racism in criminal justice. She tied a possible pardon of DeValkenaere to Parson’s decision to pardon Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges after they pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters marching past their home in a gated community in St. Louis.
“If the governor follows through with his plan to pardon a former Kansas City police officer convicted of wrongfully killing a Black Missourian, it would only bolster the impression he left in 2021 that he believes different systems of justice should exist for white Missourians and Missourians of color,” Terry said.
The timeline for the Western District Court of Appeals to hear DeValkenaere’s case is uncertain. Attorney General Andrew Bailey has missed six deadlines for filing the state’s brief in defense of the conviction.
Baker urged Parson to meet with Lamb’s family and convene a public meeting in Kansas City to gauge support for a pardon. Baker said a pardon would make all investigations more difficult.
“A pardon of this convicted former police officer will accelerate that distrust that we already see in our system,” Baker wrote. “Witnesses don’t want to testify, and victims decline to prosecute their attackers, even after suffering great injury.”
