Updated 11:58 AM CDT, October 17, 2023
Share
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) —
A white former detective in Missouri who shot and killed a Black man in 2019 has lost an appeal of his conviction despite unusual support from the state’s Republican attorney general, with judges on Tuesday ordering the ex-officer placed under arrest.
Eric J. DeValkenaere was found guilty in 2021 of second-degree manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb. Lamb was parking a pickup truck in his Kansas City back yard when the officer shot him, after reports Lamb was in a car chase with his girlfriend. The judge who found DeValkenaere guilty in a bench trial said police were the initial aggressors and had a duty to retreat, but DeValkenaere illegally used deadly force instead.
Prosecutors and Lamb’s family have alleged a handgun was planted after the shooting, but that issue was not addressed by Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge J. Dale Youngs when he convicted the detective.
On Tuesday, a three-judge panel ruled unanimously that there had been enough evidence to convict DeValkenaere. He had been sentenced to three years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and six years for armed criminal action, with the sentences to run consecutively.
The former detective has been
free on bond during the appeal, but the judges revoked his bond Tuesday and ordered a warrant for his arrest.
DeValkenaere’s lawyer declined to comment.