Can Baker defend KC cop’s conviction in Black man’s killing? Here’s the judge’s ruling
Jackson County prosecutors will be allowed to defend the manslaughter conviction of former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere at a hearing early next month, a Missouri Court of Appeals judge ruled Thursday.
Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker and attorneys from her office will be given 10 minutes to speak during oral arguments scheduled for Sept. 5 at the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, in Kansas City. DeValkenaere, who is white, is seeking a new trial or to have his conviction overturned in the 2019 shooting death of a Black man named Cameron Lamb.
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has said the conviction should be overturned and that he would refuse to argue in support of the conviction. The attorney general, whose office is responsible for arguing on behalf of the state, filed a brief agreeing that DeValkenaere was wrongly convicted.
In the order Thursday, Judge W. Douglas Thomson wrote that attorneys for DeValkenaere would be given 10 minutes to present their arguments. Bailey’s office would have 10 minutes to reply.
Baker’s office will have 10 minutes to argue in support of the conviction and DeValkenaere’s attorney will have three minutes to present their rebuttal.
Ruling on Jean Peters Baker request to defend DeValkenaere conviction by Ian Cummings on Scribd
DeValkenaere convicted in Cameron Lamb shooting
DeValkenaere was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty during a bench trial of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the killing of Lamb.
It was the first time that a white Kansas City police officer has been convicted in the shooting death of a Black man.
DeValkenaere shot and killed Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019, about nine seconds after he and his partner, Troy Schwalm arrived at Lamb’s home while investigating a report of a traffic incident. The 26-year-old Lamb was backing his pickup truck down a sloped driveway into his garage when DeValkenaere shot him.
DeValkenaere was indicted by a Jackson County grand jury in June 2020. He testified during a criminal trial that Lamb pointed a handgun at Schwalm when he opened fire.
Police found Lamb inside the truck with his left arm and head hanging out of the driver’s side window. A handgun was found on the ground near Lamb’s left hand, police said at the time.
At trial, prosecutors argued the crime scene and staged and evidence was planted.
Bailey’s office has argued that DeValkenaere “did not act with criminal negligence in causing Mr. Lamb’s death” and that he “reasonably used deadly force in defense of” his partner.
Baker described the move not to defend the conviction as “unprecedented.” Her office sought to intervene in the appeal because, with the attorney general’s decision, no one would advocate to affirm “the sentence and judgment.”
Since the conviction there have been multiple efforts to lobby Missouri Gov. Mike Parson to pardon DeValkenaere. However, Parson has said he has not met with DeValkenaere or his attorneys but he has the legal authority to grant the pardon.
In response, Baker made public a letter that urged Parson not to follow through with the pardon.
