In fatal Kansas City police shooting case, judge denies motion to dismiss charges
A Jackson County judge on Wednesday denied a motion to dismiss felony charges against a Kansas City police detective who fatally shot a man in 2019.
Eric DeValkenaere, 42, was indicted last year on charges of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the Dec. 3, 2019, killing of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb. He was shot while sitting in his pickup truck in his backyard, prosecutors said.
In March, DeValkenaere’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing that DeValkenaere did not act recklessly during the shooting — an essential element of the involuntary manslaughter charge.
In the court filing, DeValkenaere’s lawyers argued that it was Lamb, not DeValkenaere, who created the risks that led to his killing. They contended Lamb drove through residential streets at dangerous speeds before he pointed a gun at another detective.
Police investigating the shooting found Lamb inside the vehicle with his left arm and head hanging out of the driver’s side window. On the ground near his left hand was a handgun, according to police.
Lamb’s relatives have disputed the police department’s narrative. DeValkenaere’s lawyers say Lamb pulled the gun with his left hand, while prosecutors say Lamb was right-handed and did not have full use of his left hand as a result of a prior injury.
DeValkenaere’s attorneys said when Lamb was backing into the garage where the shooting occurred, DeValkenaere and the other detective, Troy Schwalm, yelled at Lamb to show them his hands. He did at first, they said, but then pointed a handgun at Schwalm.
“He’s got a gun,” DeValkenaere shouted, according to the motion. DeValkenaere fired his weapon, killing Lamb, as the detectives “hurried for cover,” DeValkenaere’s lawyers wrote.
In opposing DeValkenaere’s motion, the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office said there was no mechanism for a judge to “wade into” the facts of the case before trial to determine if prosecutors cannot meet their burden of proof. Judges can dismiss indictments, but not for the reasons DeValkenaere’s attorneys raised, prosecutors wrote.
The prosecutor’s office laid out reasons that might cause a judge to dismiss a case.
“The motion alleges none of those things,” prosecutors wrote. “Instead, the motion asks the Court to accept the defendant’s own version of the disputed facts and find, in advance of trial, that the State’s evidence at trial will be insufficient.”
Some of those disputed facts, the prosecutor’s office added, could be “easily disproved.”
When she announced the charges, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said DeValkenaere’s conduct during the shooting was “reckless” and violated the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. Prosecutors allege the detectives, who were in plainclothes, did not ask for permission to walk onto the property and did not have a warrant.
The Fraternal Order of Police denounced the charges, calling the indictment an example of a prosecutor “abusing her authority for political gain.”
DeValkenaere has been an officer since September 1999 and was assigned to the investigative bureau. He has since been suspended.
DeValkenaere’s trial is scheduled for July 12.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 1:56 PM.
