Mike Parson has long defended police. Will he pardon KC officer who killed a Black man?

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a former Polk County sheriff who has spent his political career defending law enforcement, could soon decide whether to pardon the first Kansas City police officer ever convicted of killing a Black man.

A pardon could provoke an explosive backlash in Kansas City and would be an extraordinary assertion of executive power over the judicial process, sweeping away a judge’s verdict that found former Det. Eric DeValkenaere, who is white, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in fatally shooting Cameron Lamb in 2019.

DeValkenaere has been sentenced to six years in prison but has remained free on bond as he appeals the verdict.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, a Democrat, sent a letter to Parson on Tuesday urging him not to pardon DeValkenaere, citing reports that he will soon issue one. She said a pardon now would “subvert the rule of law.”

Whether Parson pardons DeValkenaere, the entire arc of his time in public life has laid the groundwork for this moment. With a year-and-a-half left in office, a pardon would mark the culmination of a political career that’s been defined by a staunch pro-police attitude and a sometimes tense relationship with minority communities as governor.

As governor, he has warned against allowing “lawlessness to stand in our cities” and approved stricter funding requirements for Kansas City police. In December 2021, Parson said he was a “big fan” of former KCPD Chief Rick Smith. A dashcam recording that emerged a few months later showed Smith declaring “bad guy’s dead” minutes after Lamb’s killing.

Parson has also taken steps that have angered Black residents. He pardoned Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who brandished guns outside their home in 2020 as Black Lives Matter demonstrators walked past – his highest-profile pardon to date since taking office in 2018.

The pardon of the McCloskeys in August 2021 came as Kevin Strickland, a Black Kansas City man who spent more than 42 years in prison for a triple murder he did not commit, remained in prison. A judge in November 2021 ordered Strickland released.

Earlier this year, Parson took nearly a week to comment on the shooting of Ralph Yarl, the Black teen who was shot by a white man in the Northland after going to the wrong door. When he did speak, during an interview with The Star, the governor accused Democratic President Joe Biden of politicizing the shooting after the president called Yarl and tweeted that no parent should worry whether their child will be shot after ringing the wrong doorbell.

“It’s just a bad look. Why would you do that unless you were trying to prove which side you’re on?” state Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, a Kansas City Democrat who is a member of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus, said of a potential pardon for DeValkenaere.

“It’s not Black people who have made this race war. It’s a stoking point of fear,” Bland Manlove said. “Elections are coming up, so let’s stoke up the base, scare them real quick.”

A pardon would come amid long-strained relationships between Kansas City police and Black residents. Chief Stacey Graves, who was appointed in December, has provided what some residents and community leaders see as a chance for a new chapter, but hopes for improved relations could quickly unravel if Parson cancels a conviction that many saw as a landmark moment in holding local police accountable.

U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Kansas City Democrat, said Wednesday after reading news coverage of the possible pardon, he is seeking a call with Parson. Cleaver, who was the first Black mayor of Kansas City, was unsure whether the potential pardon was just a rumor, saying Parson has been vague about what he intends to do.

Regardless, ministers in Kansas City, including his son, have been meeting about how to respond if Parson issues a pardon.

“We’ve had Missouri on center stage in the American drama too many times already,” Cleaver said. “I don’t think we need this new injection of racial friction in Missouri.”

Kansas City, one of the most racially and ethnically diverse cities in Missouri, is one of the only cities in the country under state control – a policy that has its roots in the Civil War era. A board of commissioners appointed by the governor, with one seat reserved for the mayor, oversees the department.

“I think that if he were to pardon him, it would further destroy, or further erode any relationship the Black community in Kansas City has with the police department at a time when we’re again, looking to break a record in violent murders and homicides,” said state Sen. Barbara Washington, a Kansas City Democrat whose district includes the site where DeValkenaere shot Lamb. Washington is a member of the Missouri Legislative Black Caucus.

“Statewide, it definitely indicates that the life of an African American person who was killed by excessive force just doesn’t matter.”

Parson spokeswoman Kelli Jones on Tuesday accused Baker of playing “political games” and said the governor has a “proven, bipartisan record of working to improve the criminal justice system as a whole.”

Parson called a special session focused on violent crime in 2020, which led to the creation of a witness protection fund and the lifting of a residency requirement for St. Louis police officers. The next year, Parson signed a bill relaxing residency rules for Kansas City officers.

Jones said that if DeValkenaere applies for a pardon, it will receive a “thorough and thoughtful review” before any decision. Jones didn’t respond to questions on Wednesday.

Parson’s support of police won’t factor into his decision on whether to grant a pardon, said Jean Evans, a former executive director of the Missouri Republican Party. She said the governor would look at the facts of the situation.

“One thing I’ve learned about Mike Parson over the years is that he takes things on an individual basis. He’s not one to make broad strokes,” Evans said. “I think sometimes people try to assume things about him based on what they know, which is, you know, fair. I think we all do that. But based on what I know about him, he looks at things on an individual basis and talks it over with his team.”

Parson, who spent six years in the U.S. Army Military Police Corps, was the Polk County sheriff from 1993 to 2004 before entering the General Assembly.

John Hancock, a former chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, on Wednesday called Parson a “passionate supporter of law and order.” Hancock is also a former chair of the pro-Parson Uniting Missouri PAC, which has produced a video and webpage praising Parson’s support for law enforcement.

“Having been a police officer himself, having been in very dangerous situations himself, I think he has a unique understanding of what it takes to enforce the law,” Hancock said. “And I think it would be fair to say he has been a staunch supporter of police officers.”

A Parson pardon of DeValkenaere would be a potentially large gift to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican who is running for election in 2024. Parson named Bailey, his former general counsel, as state attorney general last year after Eric Schmitt won election to the U.S. Senate.

As state attorney general, Bailey is tasked with defending DeValkenaere’s conviction during the appeals process. But over more than a year, his office has failed to submit a brief to the appellate court. The court has granted six extensions, but Missouri Court of Appeals Chief Judge Gary D. Witt this month ruled that no further extensions will be granted.

Court papers defending the conviction could prove politically troublesome for Bailey, who is facing a challenge in the Republican primary from Will Scharf, a former assistant U.S. Attorney. Bailey spokeswoman Madeline Sieren has previously said the Missouri Attorney General’s Office will file a brief by the current deadline of June 26.

Peverill Squire, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said Parson is in a conflicted position. Parson, as a former sheriff, has a long record of sympathizing with law enforcement. On the other hand, the pardon could prove politically perilous.

“I think for him, it really does probably put him into a difficult position because if he does issue the pardon, then it sort of weakens his claims on having pursued some judicial and criminal reforms,” Squire said.

“And it would certainly make his last year in the General Assembly a little bit more difficult than it otherwise would be because there would be a lot of chances for people from both Kansas City and St. Louis and some of the more liberal areas of the state to use this as a political talking point, to suggest the Republicans are not supportive of the minority communities.”

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said in an interview on Wednesday that he wouldn’t comment on a hypothetical pardon, saying his interest is in making sure the justice process continues to play out. While Parson has visited the inner city, Lucas said, “I have no reluctance to make it an even stronger relationship.”

“Recognizing perhaps there are some things that can be done that make it a little weaker at times, too,” Lucas said.

State Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, said no one questions Parson’s support of law enforcement. But, she argues, a pardon would only backfire and ultimately hurt police.

“I think a pardon would only further erode trust between the Kansas City community and the police officers who serve here,” she said.

The Star’s Daniel Desrochers contributed reporting