From [HERE] Missouri Gov-elect Mike Kehoe will almost certainly free a white Kansas City police detective convicted of killing a Black man – if the current governor doesn’t do it first, based on his recent public comments.

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.

DeValkenaere, who is white, shot Lamb, a 26-year-old Black man, as Lamb was backing his red pickup truck into his basement garage. While Lamb had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on his cellphone, Detective Eric DeValkenaere offered no warning before shooting him four times while the man was still in his truck in the driveway, hitting him twice and killing the 26-year-old, attorneys say.

DeValkenaere, a 20-year veteran of the police department, is believed to be the first Kansas City law enforcement officer since 1941 to have stood trial for the fatal shooting of a Black man. The police officer in the earlier case was acquitted.

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.

Jackson County prosecutors proved that DeValkenaere recklessly shot Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019, as Lamb was sitting in a pickup truck and backing into his garage at 41st Street and College Avenue. 

The evidence demonstrated that on Dec. 3, 2019 Det. Troy Schwalm and Det DeValkenaere were in the area of 41st and College Avenue when they responded to radio dispatches regarding a traffic incident. A police helicopter had observed a red pickup being driven to 4154 College Avenue. The detectives arrived at that address to investigate. Schwalm arrived first. He did not stop to ask any questions of a resident, who was on the porch.

He exited his vehicle, drew his gun and entered the backyard. Neither detective requested permission to enter the property. DeValkenaere, instead, had a weapon and asked resident about who was in the backyard. Schwalm went up the driveway on the south side of the house and encountered a man, not Lamb, in the backyard near several vehicles.

The pickup driven by the victim, Cameron Lamb, was backing into the garage. DeValkenaere, meanwhile, was on the other side of the house. He gained access to the backyard and garage by knocking over a barbeque grill and the hood of a car. Schwalm stated he was standing on the driver’s side of the pickup truck and could see Lamb. Schwalm stated he saw Lamb’s left hand and Lamb was looking at him. Schwalm stated there was no gun in Lamb’s left hand.

DeValkenaere told investigators he could see both hands from where he was standing. He said Lamb’s right hand was on the steering wheel and he saw Lamb slide his left hand down his body, reach into his waistband and pull a gun and point it at Schwalm. DeValkenaere then fired his gun. Four bullets hit the windshield of the pickup and two struck and fatally wounded Lamb. After he was shot, the pickup continued to roll backward and came to rest at the back of the garage. Schwalm stated he saw Lamb’s body slide toward the passenger’s seat after he was shot. Tactical officers entered the garage and identified a gun on the ground beneath Lamb’s hand where the truck finally came to rest. Lamb’s body was inside the truck and his left arm was hanging out of the open driver’s side window. Medical records show that Lamb is right-handed and he did not have full use of his left hand as a result of an injury sustained in 2015.

Phone records, according to the affidavit, and a voicemail recording recovered by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office show Lamb made a phone call about the time he was shot. The call went to voicemail, and a recording of the immediate aftermath of the shooting was created. A voice is heard demanding that Lamb exit the vehicle, show his hands and keep his hand or hands up. Lamb’s cell phone was found by his right side when crime scene technicians processed the scene.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. [MORE]

DeValkenaere testified that he had no other option than to shoot Lamb who he believed pointed a gun at his partner. “I can’t let this happen. This can’t happen,” DeValkenaere said as he recalled what he was thinking at the time of the shooting. “I can’t let this happen.”

The jury rejected his testimony and did not find him to be credible.