BREAKING: Missouri Governor Frees Eric DeValkenaere, the First White Cop in KC History Convicted for Lynching a Black Person

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Missouri Governor Mike Parson has reduced the already lenient six-year sentence of Eric DeValkenaere, the white KCPD detective convicted of executing Cameron Lamb in his own backyard in December 2019. While this commutation doesn’t erase DeValkenaere’s historic conviction – it ensures the killer cop will walk free after serving a fraction of his sentence. This is nothing short of a declaration of war against, and a license to kill Black people in Missouri. “This reprehensible act speaks volumes about Parson’s priorities,” wrote Gwen Grant in a scathing statement to The Defender, “clemency for a white former officer who took a Black life yet continued refusal to grant clemency for wrongfully convicted Black men like Kevin Strickland and Marcellus Williams.” Kansas City residents deserve to know why a governor would use his final days in office to reinforce the message that police officers who kill Black citizens will face no real consequences in Missouri. – Gwen Grant, CEO & President of the Urban League of Kansas City The System Working Exactly As Designed To be crystal clear: DeValkenaere’s conviction was more than historic – it was in fact a statistical miracle in a system designed to protect...