FILE - Eric DeValkenaere, a Kansas City, Mo., police detective, who shot and killed Cameron Lamb after a chase, testifies on Nov. 10, 2021, at the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City, Mo. A Missouri appeals court on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, affirmed the conviction of DeValkenaere who shot and killed a Black man in 2019. (Rich Sugg/The Kansas City Star via AP, File)
A former Missouri detective convicted in the 2019 death of a Black man plans another appeal and asked for bond Wednesday, a day after he was jailed.
Eric J. DeValkenaere’s lawyer asked appeals court judges to reinstate his bond so he can remain free pending requests for a rehearing or an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.
The former officer had been free on bond during his initial appeal, but judges revoked bond Tuesday after upholding his conviction of second-degree manslaughter and armed criminal action in the death of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb.
DeValkenaere surrendered himself Tuesday but has not yet been transferred from a Platte County jail to state prison.
His lawyer did not immediately return a request for comment from The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Rumors have swirled that Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson was considering pardoning or granting clemency to DeValkenaere, although on Tuesday spokesperson Johnathan Shiflett said in an email that the governor is “assessing the situation” and no decision has been reached on whether to grant a pardon.
Lamb’s stepfather, Aqil Bey, during a Wednesday press conference asked Parson to think about Lamb when deciding whether to pardon DeValkenaere.
“We pray that he take into consideration who Cameron Lamb was, what he would offer this city and could offer this city as an upstanding citizen (and) as a father to his children,” Bey said.
Kansas City Law Enforcement Accountability Project founder Steve Young asked supporters to call Parson and request that he not pardon DeValkenaere.
“He has one foot in and one foot out (of jail),” Young said. “Who gets that kind of privilege?”
DeValkenaere, who is white, was found guilty in 2021 in the death of Lamb, who was parking a pickup truck in his backyard in Kansas City when the officer shot him.
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.
