On Friday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Friday commuted the prison sentence of former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere, the first Kansas City officer ever convicted of killing a Black man. The officer-who is white-was convicted of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action for the 2019 murder of Cameron Lamb, a 26-year-old Kansas City Black man and father of three.
Both Parson and Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe publicly expressed concern and a desire to pardon DeValkenaere respectively. Although this newspaper predicted DeValkenaere would be pardoned shortly before Christmas, Parson, who considers himself “an ally of law enforcement,” placed the former officer on parole, “subject to the conditions imposed by the Parole Board.”
Gwendolyn Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, told ABC News that Parson’s clemency decision will tarnish his legacy and “fuel deeper divisions and ignite justified outrage.”
She called the decision “nothing short of a flagrant endorsement of systemic racism and a betrayal of justice. By freeing a convicted officer who unlawfully killed Cameron Lamb, a young Black man, the governor has made it crystal clear that Black lives do not matter in the state of Missouri under his leadership.”
Rev. Emanuel Cleaver III, senior pastor at St. James United Methodist Church in Kansas City, described Parson’s decision as “perverted justice.”
“The governor’s decision to free DeValkenaere will only widen the gap that has existed between law enforcement and the Black community that goes back generations,” Cleaver said. “What it says to the community is that it is okay to kill as long as the victim is Black. It is a complete disregard and disrespect for Cameron Lamb’s family.”
Parson’s spokesman Johnathan Shiflett said in an email: “In Missouri, clemency powers rest exclusively with the Governor. After careful consideration, Governor Parson today exercised his constitutional authority on a number of final pending clemency petitions.”
Parson, who assumed the governorship upon the resignation of Eric Greitens in 2018, has granted the most clemency cases of any Missouri governor since the 1940s. He’s pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than 800 people since June 2018, granted clemency for most who had been convicted of lower-level crimes involving drugs or theft. But he’s also denied more than 3,000 clemency petitions during his tenure as governor.
Rev. Darryl Gray, senior pastor of the Greater Fairfax Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis and the director general for the social justice commission of the Progressive National Baptist Convention, described the commutation of DeValkenaere’s sentence as “unconscionable” and “a travesty.” He added:
“This move was intended to speak very clearly and loudly that Black lives do not matter in the state of Missouri.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.
I really don’t know what we can expect from parson, he’s shown what he feels about the black community every since he been in the office, with pardons for death row black inmates, or should I say lack of. He’s shown that he doesn’t care about passing community laws in black neighborhoods. Letting this white cop out of jail is just another way of saying I got my people’s backs and ain’t nothing you can do about it, so just from and bare it. And that’s the way it’ll go with this case. Another black man bites the dust, by the Almighty white master…
SO WHAT YOUR SAYING IS THAT HE FREED SOMEONE THAT TOOK A FATHER’S LIFE FOR NO REASON AT ALL. HE WAS SENTENCE BY A JUDGE AND JURY TO GO PRISON AND NOW HE’S FREE AFTER TAKING SOMEONE’S LIFE….WOW IS IT LIKE THAT NOW I TAKE A BLACK MAN’S AND DO AS LITTLE TIME AS POSSIBLE AND BE BACK ON THE STREETS FREE IN NO TIME FOR TIME… WHAT ABOUT THIS MAN’S FAMILY, WHAT ABOUT HIS CHILDREN HOW AND WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY FEEL.SAD REALLY SAD…
This message is for gov Mike parson I see you all giving pardons can you please look into my daughter case and pardon hers please I am 65 yrs old and I’m taking care of her children’s she has 4childrens ages now girl12,boys13,14,16 please help her and her children’s
After all is said and done what does one gain in the taking of one man’s life? The God Almighty will have the final judgment. Man’s judgement is simple but God’s judgement is forever and is final. The victim is still alive only dead in the eyes of the unbelievers. I pray to God that all will be blessed because of God’s grace and love for all concern. Amen