Eric DeValkanere's attorneys resurfaced arguments on Tuesday that the 26-year-old Black man who he killed was armed and police were justified in entering his property.
DeValkanere was found guilty in 2021 of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action for shooting Cameron Lamb as he sat in his pickup in his driveway. DeValkanaere, who is no longer with the KCPD, is appealing the conviction.
During a 50-minute hearing, three Missouri Court of Appeals judges — Douglas Thomson, Janet Sutton and Thomas Chapman — repeatedly stopped DeValkanaere’s lawyer and a representative of Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, wondering whether what they said could be proved.
Thomson asked DeValkanaere’s lawyer, Jonathan Laurans, whether the officers believed they had probable cause, or reasonable grounds, to go onto Lamb’s private property.
“So you’re saying they had probable cause to enter the premises — with their guns drawn — to arrest this man for traffic violations?” Thomson asked.
“For 13 separate traffic violations,” Laurans said.
DeValkanaere was not in court on Tuesday.
While the court was in session, a dozen protestors outside could be heard yelling, “Say his name! Cameron Lamb!” and “No justice, no peace, no justice, police.”
Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Parson, who some feared would pardon DeValkanaere, told KCUR that he’s not considering it and will wait for the legal process to be completed. Parson pointed to unnamed elected officials in Kansas City as promoting that idea.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker in June warned Parson in a public letter that if he pardoned DeValkanaere it could result in civil unrest and further erode the public's trust in the criminal justice system.
“It’s been unfortunate,” Parson said of the speculation. “I think a lot of people got spun up by that, elected officials up there are kinda claiming that. But the reality of it is that I haven’t had a conversation about that.”
Lamb was killed in December 2019 after police followed him onto his property. They said he had been in a high-speed chase with another car, that he had traffic violations and he had recently harmed a woman.
When Laurans said Lamb was armed — prosecutors say he wasn’t — Thomson asked how the judges could determine that when he had failed to supply the testimony of DeValkanaere’s partner, Tony Schwalm, from the trial.
“How do we do that if we don’t have all the evidence that supports the verdict?” Thomson said.
Schwalm testified during the trial that he did not see a gun in Lamb’s hand. DeValkanaere testified that he fired into Lamb’s red pickup truck when he saw Lamb reaching for a gun and raising it to his chest.
Prosecutors said DeValkanaere acted carelessly and recklessly in going onto Lamb’s property without probable cause or a warrant because there was no obvious crime in progress. Prosecutors have suggested that police planted a gun on the floor of the garage beneath Lamb’s left arm.
Laurans, echoing DeValkanaere during the earlier trial, said DeValkanaere and Schwalm believed there was criminal activity and had a duty to intervene. A helicopter pilot circling above the neighborhood told DeValkanaere where the truck was, and that it had pulled into the driveway, he said, adding that there’s no law that says police have to stay within a certain distance of a suspect.
“This is not Johnny Rowlands up there in a traffic helicopter,” Laurens said, referring to the popular KMBC traffic helicopter pilot. “This is a KCPD helicopter, which is doing the safest thing possible, when we have somebody driving out of control in a residential area.”
Shawn Mackelprang, who was arguing for the attorney general’s office, suggested there is a question about whether Lamb was armed. Lamb’s house mate had testified that she saw a gun on the home’s steps earlier in the day, so Lamb could have gotten out of the pickup, retrieved the gun, and gone back to the truck, Mackelprang said, suggesting that Lamb’s movements “weren’t clear.”
But there was videotape from the helicopter that showed Lamb’s movements, and he was in the truck, said Chapman. And Thomson added that that even DeValkanaere’s partner didn’t see a gun.
“Is there any evidence in the record — at all — that he went inside the basement or house?” Thomson asked.
“Not that I recall, your honor,” Mackelprang said.
“So that’s speculation,” Thomson said. “There isn’t even any evidence to suggest that.”
Ben Cox, an attorney with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s office, said the trial proved that Devalkanaere kicked down Lamb’s privacy fence, then shot and killed him.
“He shot an unarmed man in his home,” Cox said.
Correction: an earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the person who saw a gun on the home's steps as Lamb’s girlfriend. In fact, it was his house mate.
