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'A horrible message': Kansas City ex-cop's clemency expected to hurt trust of police

Jonathan Shorman, The Kansas City Star on

Published in News & Features

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More than a year ago, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker warned Missouri Gov. Mike Parson that pardoning former Kansas City police Detective Eric DeValkenaere, the city’s first officer ever convicted of killing a Black man, would fuel distrust in the public safety system.

Parson’s chief of staff at the time blasted the Democratic prosecutor’s warning, contained in a letter, accusing her of “weaponizing” it for political purposes.

On Friday, the Republican governor freed DeValkenaere from prison, issuing a commutation that placed the former detective on parole. Community activists, officials and others who have closely watched the case say the action will sharply damage relationships between Kansas City residents and police — as Baker predicted.

“I don’t think there’s any question, we’re going to have people losing an even higher level of trust than is currently out there,” U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Democrat and the city’s first Black mayor said ahead of the clemency announcement.

DeValkenaere, who is white, was convicted in 2021 of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the fatal shooting of Cameron Lamb, a Black man, in December 2019. DeValkenaere shot and killed the 26-year-old as Lamb was backing his pickup truck into his garage. The shooting took place roughly nine seconds after DeValkenaere and his partner pulled up to Lamb’s residence.

DeValkenaere, found guilty by a judge after waiving his right to a jury trial, was sentenced to six years in prison but remained free on bond as his criminal appeal worked through the courts. The ex-detective surrendered to authorities in October 2023 when the Missouri Court of Appeals upheld his conviction.

Even before rumors of a possible pardon began circulating in 2023, Lamb’s friends and allies had decried what they said was the lenient treatment afforded to DeValkenaere throughout the legal process — pointing to how he was long allowed to remain free on bond. The clemency only cements that impression.

“It shows a miscarriage of justice. It shows that our judicial system is as out of whack as it has been for forever,” said Sheryl Ferguson, founder of It’s Time 4 Justice.

Trust in governmental institutions, especially police, hinges on whether the public believes wrongdoers will face consequences, said Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project.

“When we see someone who we know did something wrong or something concerning be able to avoid any consequences for that or the consequences we think are sufficient,” Bonds said, “that really makes you say, ‘well, there isn’t that system in place. There aren’t those safeguards.

There isn’t some way to make sure that police officers who do the wrong thing are being dealt with and do face accountability.’”

Parson had long signaled he was seriously contemplating offering clemency to DeValkenaere. The governor, a former Polk County sheriff, had criticized Baker’s prosecution and lamented that the ex-officer was in prison.

Baker in June 2023 wrote to Parson, urging him not to pardon DeValkenaere and, at the very least, to speak with Lamb’s family. Lamb’s family has repeatedly said they have never heard from the governor.

Baker, who didn’t run for reelection and will leave office in early January, wrote that while she expected clemency to ignite protests and “public safety concerns” for citizens and police, the greater long-term harm would be “an erosion of our public safety system as fair and just.”

Distrust in the system would only grow because of a pardon, Baker wrote, telling the governor that, already, witnesses don’t want to testify and victims decline to prosecute their attackers. Parson’s chief of staff at the time, Aaron Willard, wrote back that the governor would continue to uphold a “record of objective justice,” while noting that Parson believed in second chances.

In a statement, Parson spokesman Johnathan Shiflett said: “In Missouri, clemency powers rest exclusively with the Governor. After careful consideration, Governor Parson today exercised his constitutional authority on a number of final pending clemency petitions.”

Stinging message

The announcement is expected to represent a demoralizing bombshell within Kansas City’s Black community.

The Kansas City Police Department has struggled for years to improve trust among Black residents. Lamb’s killing marked a particularly low point, with Rick Smith, then the police chief, heard on tape saying “bad guy’s dead” following the shooting. As Smith prepared to retire, Parson said he was a “big fan” of the police chief.

The U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 launched an investigation into KCPD’s hiring and employment practices. The Kansas City Star previously found that the number of Black officers was lower than it had been decades ago, that Black officers were disproportionately disciplined by KCPD, and at least 18 officers had left because of racist treatment over a 15-year period.

 

“It’s going to be a horrible message to a city that has already been struggling with trying to build any kind of rapport with the police. There’s still the ‘don’t talk’ mentality that we have,” Ferguson said. “And I know the police have been working very hard to try to change that vision but this is doing nothing but going to add to it.”

Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, previously told the Star that clemency would send a “chilling message that law enforcement officers are held to a lower standard of accountability than the rest of us.”

Lamb’s family had braced themselves for the likely clemency. At an event marking the 5th anniversary of Lamb’s death — Dec. 3, 2019 — family members voiced anger and frustration about what was coming.

“Whatever happens,” Lamb’s stepfather, Aquil Bey, told the crowd that had gathered, “don’t let it destroy the commitment that’s been made and the connection that has been made with the community and those like in law enforcement or in our judicial system.”

State control of Kansas City police compounds the challenge facing the department as it seeks to build relationships. Kansas City is one of the only cities in the country with a state-governed police force, leaving local elected officials — and, in turn, residents — little direct power over how the department operates.

Under current law, a five-member Board of Police Commissioners oversees the department. Every member on the board is appointed by the governor, with the exception of the mayor, the only elected official on the board.

Parson and Gov-elect Mike Kehoe have voiced support for the state control system, which enjoys broad support among Missouri Republicans. After St. Louis regained control of its police force a decade ago, for instance, some GOP lawmakers now want to return it to state control.

Chief’s ‘focus’

The current KCPD chief, Stacey Graves, was named by the Kansas City Board of Police Commissioners to the top role in April 2022. A veteran of the force, she cast herself as a change agent and someone who could “build bridges” after years of intense criticism of the department.

Still, Graves has faced questions about DeValkenaere. Her husband, Daniel Graves, wrote a letter seeking leniency from the court as DeValkenaere’s appeal was about to get underway.

Daniel Graves, who said DeValkenaere lived across the street from their Northland home in 2008, wrote the criminal charges were “politically motivated” in his letter. Chief Graves previously told the Star it is not unusual for police officers to show their support for a colleague in peril.

“That whole situation (fatal shooting) was a tragedy,” Graves previously said. “Someone lost their son. Someone lost their father. It was a tragedy. And I bet if you asked everyone involved in that situation if they could have a do over again they would say yes, and things would be different.”

KCPD Capt. Jake Becchina said in a recent email that Graves hadn’t expressed an opinion to Parson or Kehoe regarding clemency for DeValkenaere.

“Chief Graves has maintained an intense focus on community engagement and relationship building since she was appointed as Chief two years ago, that focus remains unchanged,” Becchina said.

Cleaver said he respected Graves’ decisions so far.

“I don’t know if the mistrust or distrust is headed toward the upper echelon of the police department as much as it is the process of what’s going on,” Cleaver said. “It’s like people are doing what they want to do and if they have friends in high places, it’s OK. And we’ve got to turn this around.”

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(The Star’s Daniel Desrochers contributed to this story.)

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©2024 The Kansas City Star. Visit kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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