Missouri residents react to ex-KCPD detective DeValkenaere clemency application
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A number of people are weighing in after a formal clemency request was made from the family of former Kansas City Police Department Detective Eric DeValkenaere.
“We have submitted a clemency packet directly to the Governor’s Office,” DeValkenaere’s wife Sarah said Tuesday morning in an interview on 95.7FM KCMO Talk Radio/Mundo in the Morning.
Sarah talked about how she hopes Missouri’s Republican Governor Mike Parson grants her husband clemency.
“I know he’s a former law enforcement officer himself,” Sarah said to Pete Mundo. “I know he has firsthand knowledge of how hard these men and women work each day and how sometimes they’re put into life and death situations where they have to make quick decisions .”
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“Yes, our office has received a request for clemency from Mr. DeValkenaere’s family and attorneys along with hundreds of additional calls and requests from private citizens on his behalf,” Parson’s Press Secretary Johnathan Shiflett said in a statement sent to FOX4. “Governor Parson has made no decision regarding clemency for Mr. DeValkenaere at this time.”
“The rule of law has spoken clearly on this matter through a Jackson County Grand Jury, three separate Circuit Court judges, three separate appeals court judges and the presiding judge of the Western District Court of Appeals, who signed the arrest warrant last week,” Democratic Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker said in a statement released after Governor Parson’s statement came out.
“We are getting ready to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary here and you know, it’s coming up really quick and he deserves to be home and he deserves to be home with our kids,” Sarah said to Mundo.
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“I mean there are a lot of people who have family members in prison who would love to say the same thing, but that’s just not how the world works,” St. James United Methodist Church Senior Pastor Emanuel Cleaver III said in an interview with FOX4 Tuesday. “He was found guilty, and there’s no reason why he should not serve the time.”
The judge sentenced Eric to three years in jail for his conviction on involuntary manslaughter and six years for the armed criminal action conviction.
The sentences will run at the same time. FOX4 expects a decision soon on DeValkenaere’s attorney’s request to have him released from jail while they file additional appeals.
