Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker has asked Missouri Gov. Mike Parson not to pardon Eric DeValkenaere, a white Kansas City Police officer who fatally shot a Black man.
In a letter released to media even before Parson issued a statement, Baker asked him to refrain from doing so, saying it would be a political action that subverts the rule of law.
"Pardons are political action, by design, not devised for the innocent but for the guilty," Baker wrote.
Parson's office countered by saying Baker's actions were "disappointing" and any pardon application by DeValkenaere will be treated as any other.
"It’s disappointing that the Jackson County prosecutor would play political games when Gov. Parson has a proven, bipartisan record of working to improve the criminal justice system as a whole," said his communications director, Kelli Jones.
While not commenting on a possible pardon, Jones said Parson is "grounded in his faith and believes in second chances."
Pardoning DeValkaneare would not only harm the public safety by triggering protests, Baker said, but it would further erode the public's trust in the criminal justice system.
"Witnesses don't want to testify, and victims decline to prosecute their attackers, even after suffering real injury," Baker wrote. "This distrust will only grow when you, as overseer of KCPD, choose a political action over the legal process."
DeValkenaere was found guilty in November 2021 of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb, a Black man. It was the only conviction of a white police officer for the killing of a Black man in the city's history.
Members of the social justice group MORE2 held a protest in front of the Jackson County Courthouse condemning a possible pardon. Emanuel Cleaver III, senior pastor at St. James United Methodist Church, said pardoning DeValkenaere would tear the city apart.
"It sends the message that officers can do whatever they want and the governor will make sure they're taken care of," he said. "It says to the state of Missouri and to the rest of the United States that what the courts do don't matter."
Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, said Parson is offering political cover to Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who was expected to fight DeValkenaere's legal appeal. Bailey will avoid angering his conservative constituents by dodging the legal case, she said.
"Who's harmed here? The Lamb family and Black people overall," Grant said. "His disrespect for the rule of law is unconscionable."
Grant said Parson would send a clear message with a pardon.
"He's confirming that there is a two-tiered justice system," she said. "And even when a cop is convicted of killing a Black man, he won't have to pay for it. Justice is certainly not blind."
Last Thursday, the City Council recognized June 8 as Cameron Lamb Day. Lamb would have been 30 years old on Wednesday.
Baker said she called the family and said the news of a possible pardon was difficult for them to hear, especially coming off last week's positive event.
"It really did break their heart," Baker said. At the council event, "they spoke about Cameron in a really beautiful way because he really was a fine young man," she said.
Baker said she is exploring whether she can legally do anything to counter a pardon, but says it looks unlikely. She said that she has "great hope" that perhaps Parson was considering the appeal but is now changing his mind.
Rev. Rodney Williams, senior pastor at Swope Parkway United Christian Church, said it seems "outrageous" for Parson, the former Polk County Sheriff, to protect another law enforcement officer.
"It is an extreme and immoral to use the power of the office of governor to allow a white police officer to get away with the murder of another African American male," Williams said.
Lamb was shot and killed on Dec. 3, 2019, as he was sitting in a pickup truck and backing into his garage at 41st Street and College Avenue.
Jackson County prosecutors argued that DeValkenaere acted recklessly by entering Lamb’s property without a warrant, knocking over a makeshift fence and firing his weapon within seconds of coming upon the pickup truck.
The shooting occurred not long after a police helicopter spotted a red truck chasing a purple Mustang at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour through a residential neighborhood.
DeValkenaere, a 20-year veteran of the department and a member of its Violent Offender Squad when the shooting occurred, said he was responding to an ongoing danger and had probable cause to enter Lamb’s property.
Parson was asked to intervene in the case at least once before. KCPD Captain Danny Graves wrote to the governor asking him to allow DeValkenaere to remain out on bail pending his sentencing.
Graves, the husband of Chief Stacey Graves, wrote that the prosecution of DeValkenaere was “politically motivated” by Baker's office. When asked about the letter in December, Stacey Graves told KCUR that she didn't know it existed.
