Missouri Governor Mike Parson commutes prison sentence for former Kansas City Police officer Eric DeValkenaere
The Pardons and Commuted Sentences Continue To Roll Out For The Worst Of Criminals At State And Federal Levels. • YET NO PARDON FOR VICTIMS • [JEFFREY WEINHAUS (Habeas Corpus Appeal Denied by Court Clerk)]
On the morning of Dec. 3, 2019, DeValkenaere responded to a request over his police radio to check out a driver who had been speeding through city streets. The driver, Lamb, had pulled his pickup truck into a driveway and was backing into a garage. DeValkenaere, who was not in a police uniform, knocked down a makeshift fence to enter the property. Nine seconds later he shot Lamb, who was sitting in his pickup and had just placed a phone call. DeValkenaere said he fired when Lamb pointed a gun at his partner. Police reportedly found Lamb in his truck, hanging out the driver’s side window and a handgun on the ground near his left hand. Prosecutors have contended the gun was planted.an appeals court panel has upheld the verdict. The Missouri Supreme Court refused to review the case. A federal judge ruled in a civil case that DeValkenaere violated Lamb’s constitutional rights.
Eric DeValkenaere DeValkenaere had been held in an out-of-state prison for his own safety, said Department of Corrections spokesperson Karen Pojmann. Parson granted a similar commutation of parole to Patty Prewitt, another high-profile prisoner who had spent 40 years behind bars for her husband’s killing. The Department of Corrections confirmed both were freed Friday afternoon, before Parson publicly announced his decisions.
Jason Hancock