KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will not hear an appeal from a former Missouri police detective convicted in the 2019 shooting of a Black man.
The state Supreme Court has denied former Kansas City Detective Eric J. DeValkenaere’s request to hear his case. The Western District Missouri Court of Appeals upheld the conviction in September.
Messages were left with DeValkenaere’s attorney.
DeValkenaere is serving a six-year prison sentence for second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal activity. He was convicted of fatally shooting Cameron Lamb in the driveway of Lamb’s home on December 3, 2019.
Republican Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office asked the appeals court in June to overturn DeValkenaere’s conviction or order a new trial. That was unusual because the attorney general’s office typically defends convictions rather than appealing them.
A message was left at Bailey’s office.
Police said DeValkenaere, who is white, and his partner went to Lamb’s home after reports that he had chased his girlfriend’s convertible in a stolen pickup. DeValkenaere said he fired after Lamb pointed a gun at another detective.
But Judge J. Dale Youngs, who found DeValkenaere guilty in a bench trial, said the officers had no probable cause to believe a crime had been committed, no warrant for Lamb’s arrest and no search warrant or authorization to located on the site. . Police were the initial aggressor and had a duty to withdraw, the judge said.