KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Gov-elect Mike Kehoe will almost certainly free a former Kansas City police detective convicted of killing a Black man – if the current governor doesn’t do it first.

Kehoe’s election as governor last week effectively ensures Eric DeValkenaere, who killed 26-year-old Cameron Lamb in 2019, won’t serve out his six-year sentence. DeValkenaere, who has been in prison for a little over a year, will likely be released in the coming months, if not weeks.

In the wake of the election, Kehoe has reiterated his past comments that DeValkenaere shouldn’t be in prison. But the remarks are no longer coming from a candidate seeking votes; instead, they’re the words of an election winner poised to take office.

A commutation for DeValkenaere appears to be no longer a matter of if, but when.

“I’m very sensitive to Eric’s case. I would consider Sarah a good friend of my wife and I’s,” Kehoe said at a post-election news conference, referring to DeValkenaere’s wife. Kehoe’s comments, especially about his friendship with Sarah DeValkenaere, have angered Lamb’s family.

“I met Sarah and Eric before he was imprisoned and I would say wrongly. I believe we need to have Eric’s back,” Kehoe said. “And I’ve been very vocal about saying should I succeed in running for governor, Eric DeValkenaere will be home with his family.”

As Republican Gov. Mike Parson prepares to leave office on Jan. 13, Kehoe added: “I still am hopeful and prayerful that that happens before I get into the governor’s office.”

Whether Parson acts or not, Kehoe’s electoral victory sets up a countdown clock of sorts to an explosive announcement expected to convulse Kansas City.

Parson, a former Polk County sheriff, has publicly flirted with the possibility of commuting DeValkenaere’s sentence. He said in August that “I don’t like where he’s at.”

But the governor has stopped just short of explicitly promising to release him. By contrast, the governor-elect’s straightforward comments make clear exactly what he plans to do.

Sarah DeValkenaere and allies of the ex-officer have waged a public campaign for over a year seeking his release. While DeValkenaere has found support among Republicans and law enforcement, much of Kansas City’s civic leadership and advocates for police reform oppose a commutation or pardon, fearing such a step would harm efforts to build relationships between the police and the city’s Black community.

“We cannot and will not accept a system where those in power are above the law,” Gwen Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, told The Star earlier this year.

“The people of Kansas City, Missouri, and beyond deserve better. We deserve a justice system that holds everyone equally accountable, regardless of their position or profession.”

DeValkenaere shot and killed Lamb roughly nine seconds after arriving at Lamb’s home while investigating a reported traffic incident on Dec. 3, 2019.

DeValkenaere shot Lamb as he was backing his pickup truck into his garage. The detective believed his partner’s life was in danger.

“He drew the weapon from the left side of his waistband,” DeValkenaere said during a police interview two days after the shooting. “...He put it under the steering wheel and then as he sat up, he started to raise it past, along the left side of the steering wheel right towards where (his partner) Troy (Schwalm) was at.”

But Schwalm told investigators that he did not see Lamb with a gun.

“I didn’t see it,” he said in a police interview. “All I saw was his, it would have been his left hand, waving at me and he was looking at me.”

Prosecutors contended the gun found on the ground beneath Lamb’s arm, which was hanging out the window, was planted. At a bench trial in 2021, Jackson County Circuit Court Judge J. Dale Youngs found DeValkenaere guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.

Youngs sentenced DeValkenaere to six years in prison.

Kehoe poised to act

The conviction represented a landmark moment of police accountability in Kansas City. The Kansas City Police Department has long been under state control, governed by a five-member Board of Police Commissioners.

Four of the commissioners are appointed by the governor. The mayor is the sole elected official on the board. The arrangement gives the governor, through the board, broad influence and makes it highly difficult for Kansas City residents to hold the agency accountable through its elected officials.

After remaining free while appealing his conviction, DeValkenaere surrendered in late 2023 to begin serving his sentence. The Missouri Supreme Court in March declined to hear his appeal, effectively ending his effort to overturn his conviction in the courts.

A pardon or commutation is now DeValkenaere’s only hope of not serving out his sentence. It’s a hope GOP officials have consistently nurtured.

During the Republican race for governor, all three major candidates voiced an openness to freeing the former officer. State Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring promised action in his first week in office if elected. Kehoe said in February that DeValkenaere “needs to be home with his kids, not in prison.”

Kehoe, a former Jefferson City car dealership owner who served in the Missouri Senate before Parson named him lieutenant governor in 2018, campaigned for governor as an ally of law enforcement. He secured endorsements from the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, the Missouri State Troopers Association and other law enforcement groups.

Kehoe has promised a plan to address crime across Missouri that will involve efforts to boost recruiting and retention of police officers, but his campaign was vague on details.

If Parson doesn’t free DeValkenaere before leaving office, a Kehoe commutation would mark a stunning and aggressive early action by the new governor.

Aquil and Laurie Bey, Lamb’s stepfather and mother, voiced open anger with Kehoe during an interview with The Star – not only at the incoming governor’s position but also the invocation of his friendship with Sarah DeValkenaere.

“He’s saying very loud and clear – I mean very loud and clear – his plans on what he plans to do and the reason he’s doing it,” Laurie Bey said.

“He’s not doing it because this man is innocent. He plans to release DeValkenaere so he can be with his family based off of a friendship between his wife and Sarah DeValkenaere,” she said. “It’s just not right and look at the message this sends.”

Kehoe transition spokeswoman Gabby Picard said in a statement that Mike and Claudia Kehoe “hold close relationships with many law enforcement families across the state.”

The Kehoes came to know the DeValkenaere family several years ago, prior to the former officer’s incarceration through their support of the Kansas City Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, she said.

“Any action that may (be) taken by Kehoe in the Governor’s Office would be due to the unjust sentencing Eric received by a woke prosecutor, not their friendship,” Picard said.

A judge, not a prosecutor, sentenced DeValkenaere. DeValkenaere was indicted by a Jackson County grand jury in 2020 and prosecuted by Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, a Democrat.

As DeValkenaere’s appeals played out last year, Baker urged Parson not to pardon the former officer. In a letter to the governor, she wrote that “this extreme action for the only KCPD officer convicted of fatally shooting a black man will ignite distrust, protests, and public safety concerns for citizens and for police.”

Baker didn’t run for reelection and will be replaced in January by Melesa Johnson, a Democrat who will be the first Black woman in the role.

Parson’s call for now

After he takes office, Kehoe will have the power to delay, reduce or eliminate the punishment of state-level crimes under the Missouri Constitution. Missouri uses an application process for clemency requests, but the governor’s clemency power is far-reaching and entirely discretionary.

But it remains far from certain whether Kehoe will have to make a decision about DeValkenaere.

Parson has shown a willingness to make controversial clemency requests and his approach to the former officer appears no different.

In 2021 Parson pardoned Mark and Patricia McCloskey, a St. Louis couple who gained notoriety after they were photographed waving guns at Black Lives Matter demonstrators outside their upscale St. Louis home. Mark McCloskey, who ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment.

Then in March, Parson commuted the sentence of former Kansas City Chiefs assistant coach Britt Reid, who was convicted of driving while intoxicated and causing a crash that severely injured a 5-year-old girl. Parson is a staunch Chiefs fan and the decision sparked intense backlash.

Parson has also cleared a backlog of hundreds of clemency requests that built up over several administrations. For more than a year, the governor’s office announced grants of pardons and commutations on a monthly basis with dozens of mostly anonymous individuals receiving clemency.

Recently, Parson has transitioned away from issuing regular batches of clemency decisions as the backlog of requests has been effectively eliminated. DeValkenaere remains one of the few requests still before the governor.

“Governor Parson is considering clemency for Mr. DeValkenaere but has made no decision at this time,” Parson spokesman Johnathan Shiflett said in a statement.

“Governor Parson has suggested in the past that he wants to leave the number of pending clemency petitions as close to zero as possible when he leaves office, but, ultimately, decisions on clemency are at his discretion.”

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