Jackson County prosecutor asks to defend former KCPD detective’s conviction at hearing

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker asked a Missouri appeals court this week for permission to defend the conviction of former Kansas City Police Detective Eric DeValkenaere during an upcoming hearing.

The Democratic prosecutor filed a motion with the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District requesting 10 minutes to speak at oral arguments in a challenge to the conviction, after Missouri Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey, in an unprecedented decision, refused to argue in favor of the judgment.

DeValkanaere, who is white, is the first Kansas City police officer ever found guilty in the killing of a Black man.

DeValkenaere faces a six-year prison sentence but remains free on bond while challenging convictions on charges of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the killing of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb.

Baker’s motion, submitted by Jackson County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Terrence Messonnier, seeks to prevent the possibility of a hearing, scheduled for September, in which no one argues in favor of the conviction.

“Because of the Attorney General’s decision, at present, there is no party to oral argument who will be advocating to affirm the sentence and judgment,” Messonnier writes in the motion.

DeValkenaere shot and killed Lamb about nine seconds after arriving at Lamb’s home on Dec. 3, 2019. DeValkenaere and another detective tried to detain him as the 26-year-old was backing his pickup truck down a sloped driveway into his garage.

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. DeValkenaere was indicted by a Jackson County grand jury in June 2020.

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.