Ex-Kansas City detective who killed Cameron Lamb seeks acquittal or new trial in appeal
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Eric DeValkenaere conviction
In 2021, KCPD detective Eric DeValkenaere was convicted in the fatal shooting of Cameron Lamb. It was the first time a Kansas City police officer was found guilty in the killing of a Black man.
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Lawyers for former Kansas City police Det. Eric DeValkenaere have presented legal arguments to the Western District of Missouri’s Court of Appeals as they seek to overturn his conviction in the killing of Cameron Lamb or for a new trial to be held.
In an 84-page brief filed Oct. 27, the former detective’s lawyers argue that the decision by Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Dale Youngs to convict DeValkenaere of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action was based on flawed analysis of the law. They argue that DeValkenaere and his partner had probable cause to arrest Lamb for traffic violations and be on his property before the fatal encounter on Dec. 3, 2019.
The brief also argues police did not trespass on private property, were not the “initial aggressors” during the shooting and that the killing of Lamb was a lawful use of force by a police officer.
Lamb was fatally shot by DeValkenaere — roughly nine seconds after he and his partner arrived at his home — after a Kansas City police helicopter followed the young man’s pickup truck to his residence in the 4100 block of College Boulevard in response to a series of alleged traffic violations. DeValkenaere and Troy Schwalm, his partner, both plainclothes detectives with the Violent Offenders Squad, were attempting to detain Lamb as the 26-year-old was backing his red pickup truck down a sloped driveway into his garage.
DeValkenaere has claimed that he shot Lamb to save his partner’s life as he saw Lamb handling a firearm in the front seat. Jackson County prosecutors, though, alleged during DeValkenaere’s criminal trial that the crime scene was manipulated, suggesting that a firearm was moved from within the garage’s stairwell to the spot where Lamb’s lifeless hand hung through his driver’s side window.
Only DeValkenaere — the first white KCPD officer to be charged and then convicted in the killing of a Black man in the course of official police duty— faced criminal charges stemming from the shooting. He has denied planting evidence or encouraging anyone to do so, including during his court testimony when he took the witness stand in his own defense.
In November 2021, at the close of the bench trial — a proceeding in which a criminal defendant gives up a right to trial by jury — Judge Youngs ruled that DeValkenaere was guilty of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in Lamb’s killing.
Youngs based his decision largely on the Fourth Amendment, which aims to protect citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures by law enforcement, saying DeValkenaere and Schwalm had no warrant and also no probable cause to arrest Lamb for a felony offense.
DeValkenaere was ultimately sentenced to six years in Missouri prison, though he has been allowed to remain free on bond as he appeals the conviction.
This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 11:00 PM.
