‘A Betrayal of Justice’: Kansas City Detective Convicted of Killing Black Man In His Own Garage and Allegedly Planting Gun Freed By Republican Missouri Governor, Sparking Outrage

Former Kansas City Police Detective Eric DeValkenaere will not spend Christmas in prison, but his days as a cop are over, at least in Missouri. Missouri GOP Gov. Mike Parson commuted DeValkenaere’s six-year prison sentence Friday, one year after he started serving. He was convicted in 2021 of killing 26-year-old Cameron Lamb as he backed into his garage.DeValkenaere’s release was not a surprise. Back in September, the governor told a Kansas City radio station that the case against the 45-year-old cop had been politicized by an overzealous prosecutor. And if Parson hadn’t freed DeValkenaere, his successor, Mike Kehoe, who takes office next month, said he’d issue a pardon. Eric DeValkenaere, 43, (right)was charged after 26-year-old Cameron Lamb (left) was shot dead by DeValkenaere as Lamb sat in a pickup truck in his own backyard on Dec. 3, 2019. (Photo: 41 Action News/ YouTube screenshot)Parson decided against a pardon, commuting the sentence instead. It’s an important distinction. According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, a full pardon, while not removing the conviction from the individual’s criminal record, does restore all rights of citizenship and strips any punishment accompanying the conviction.Those consequences remain in a commutation, which only shortens the sentence. The...