Prosecutors faced challenge in pursuing manslaughter case against KC police detective

Eric J. DeValkenaere, a Kansas City detective, was on trial last week for the killing of Cameron Lamb, an uncommon case as legal experts say it’s difficult to charge and convict police officers for on-duty shootings.

This is the first time in nearly 80 years that a white police officer in Kansas City has faced a criminal trial in the shooting death of a Black man. DeValkenaere faced charges of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.

Jackson County Circuit Court Judge J. Dale Youngs presided over the bench trial. On Friday, he found DeValkenaere guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.

DeValkenaere was accused of killing Lamb, 26, while he was parking a pickup truck in his own backyard on Dec. 3, 2019. Lamb’s name was evoked last year throughout racial justice protests in Kansas City.

Prosecutors are often hesitant to bring criminal charges against officers because securing a conviction is difficult, criminologists say.

Jurors are also often reluctant to second guess a split-second decision a police officer makes in a potentially violent encounter, according to Philip Matthew Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University, who tracks police officer prosecutions.

This is especially true when an officer testifies that the reason they shot and killed the person was because the officer felt threatened, even when witnesses say that the officer’s deadly force was objectively unreasonable, Stinson said.

Police officers often have considerable leeway to use deadly force on the job and will cite their training as a reason why, according to a Washington Post story exploring why it’s hard prosecute and convict officers.

A 1989 Supreme Court decision also helps an officer’s defense. In Graham v. Connor, the court ruled that excessive use of force claims must be evaluated against the Fourth Amendment’s objectively reasonable standard, meaning an officer’s actions must be judged against what a reasonable police officer would do in the same situation.

In 1991, a Kansas City police officer was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter by a Clay County judge for shooting a 26-year-old man, the Associated Press reported at the time. Both the officer and the victim were white.

Since 2005, there have been 149 non-federal sworn law enforcement officers who have been arrested from on-duty killings in the country. Of those, 48 have been convicted of a crime that was the result of a police shooting, according to Stinson.

In his research, Stinson found that 20 officers pleaded guilty while 28 were convicted by juries and none were convicted in a bench trial. When officers are convicted, it’s usually for a lesser criminal charge.

Only seven officers have been convicted of murder and received sentences ranging from 81 months to life in prison, according to Stinson’s data tracking.

Two recent convictions include Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, who was captured on video pressing his knee against the neck of George Floyd for more than nine minutes. Amber Guyger, a former Dallas police officer, was convicted in 2019 for shooting Botham Jean, is another. In both cases, the officers were white and the victims were Black.

This story was originally published November 19, 2021 at 1:34 PM.