Defense grills witness on where Cameron Lamb kept gun in Day 2 of detective’s trial

Defense attorneys on Tuesday attempted to weaken the testimony of a key prosecution witness who maintained that Cameron Lamb kept a gun on the stairway within several feet of where he was fatally shot by a Kansas City police detective.

The second day of the criminal trial of police detective Eric DeValkenaere included an often heated and terse exchange between defense attorney Molly Hastings and Roberta Merritt, who lived with Lamb at a white and red-brick single-family residence at 4154 College Avenue.

DeValkenaere, 42, was indicted by a Jackson County grand jury for first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the Dec. 3, 2019 killing.

DeValkenaere said that he fired after Lamb pointed a gun at his partner, Troy Schwalm. 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.

At the time that DeValkenaere shot Lamb, prosecutors have said he was not armed and the gun that police said he had with him was actually inside of a staircase near the garage.

On Tuesday, Merritt testified that a gun found by investigators near Lamb’s body was previously kept on the third stair from the bottom of a stairway that led to the basement, near the garage.

However, Hastings told Merritt that she never shared that critical information with investigators on the numerous times she was questioned about the shooting. Hastings told Merritt that she changed her story about the gun after she spoke with civil investigators and prosecutors. Most notably as the criminal case moved closer to trial.

“There is no logical reason your story changed under this particular spotlight,” Hastings said.

During an earlier heated exchange, Merritt told Hastings, “you are not going to keep twisting my words, asking me the same questions over and over.”

Lamb was shot after officers investigating a crash reported a red pickup chasing a purple Ford Mustang. Officers in a police helicopter spotted the truck driven by Lamb and followed the vehicle.

Before he was shot, Lamb had his left hand on the truck’s steering wheel and his cellphone in his right hand, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said there was no evidence that anyone had dialed 911, that anyone was hurt or that a crime had even taken place when DeValkenaere and another detective arrived at Lamb’s home.

Neither DeValkenaere nor his partner Troy Schwalm identified themselves as police officers or were given permission to walk onto her property, Merritt said.

She said DeValkenaere pointed his service weapon at her as he walked towards the back of the residence.

“I was never asked do you live here,” Merritt testified.

Prosecutors have alleged that when Lamb’s body was taken to the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office, investigators found two bullets inside of Lamb’s pockets. Those bullets had not been there at the crime scene, they said.

Assistant prosecutor Tim Dollar showed several crime scene photos of the various items that investigators removed from Lamb’s pants pocket that included a cigarette lighter, a set of keys, a small metal wrench and cash.

Ben Simmons, who has worked as a crime scene technician for 26 years, testified Tuesday that crime scene investigators routinely conduct a “cursory” examination of the victim’s body at the scene. Other items could be located once the body was taken to the medical examiner’s office.

But Dollar noted that items “as small and thin as a penny” were removed from Lamb’s pockets.

Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker announced criminal charges against DeValkenaere in June 2020, saying at the time that 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 criminal bench trial before Jackson County Circuit Court Judge J. Dale Youngs is expected to last for the rest of the week.

This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 4:08 PM.