‘For No Reason at All’: Governor Pardon Appears Likely for Kansas City Detective Convicted of Killing Black Man In His Own Garage, Then Allegedly Planted Gun

By Christian BooneMissouri’s governor has yet to decide whether to pardon a white Kansas City police officer convicted in the 2019 shooting death of a 26-year-old Black man.But recent comments from Gov. Mike Parson have supporters of former Detective Eric J. DeValkenaere feeling optimistic that the convicted killer may soon be released from prison. And if Parson doesn’t commute the officer’s sentence, the governor’s likely successor, fellow Republican Lt. Gov. Matt Kehoe, vows he will. Polls show Kehoe with a double-digit lead over his Democratic opponent.“There’s not a week that goes by that somebody’s not reaching out to me about that issue, and we’re going to see what happens here before long. I’ll leave it at that,” Parson recently said in an interview with KCMO Talk Radio host Pete Mundo. “But you know, I don’t like where he’s at. I’ll just say that.” DeValkenaere’s legal challenges ran out in March after Missouri’s Supreme Court upheld his conviction in the shooting death of Cameron Lamb.Lamb was backing his pickup truck down a sloped driveway to his garage in December 2019 when he was confronted by DeValkenaere and his partner. DeValkenaere, who fired the fatal shots nine seconds after Lamb’s arrival, alleged...