Messages show efforts to sway decision on ex-KC cop. Will governor give him clemency?
On former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere’s first full day in jail last October, former colleague Arthea Reno sent an impassioned plea to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, urging him to free the first KCPD officer ever convicted in the killing of a Black man.
Reno wrote in a message that she had served with DeValkenaere for several years, calling him a dedicated officer and a “wonderful man.” If DeValkenaere said he believed his partner’s life was in danger when he shot and killed 26-year-old Cameron Lamb nine seconds after they arrived at Lamb’s home while investigating a reported traffic incident on Dec. 3, 2019, then “that is exactly what he thought and felt at the time of this incident.”
“He does not deserve to be punished for doing exactly what any of us would do to save ourselves or others,” Reno, a KCPD front desk worker who retired in 2021, wrote. “A pardon may cause some strife and issues among the opposition, but…sometimes we have to do what is right instead of what is easy…. What is just instead of what is publicly popular.”
Nearly a year later, Parson continues to publicly weigh clemency for DeValkenaere, who is serving a six-year sentence in an undisclosed out-of-state prison. The governor, a former sheriff in southwest Missouri who has long cast himself as a staunch supporter of law enforcement, in recent days telegraphed that he is leaning toward taking action.
As Parson nears a decision – or an announcement – a trove of messages obtained by The Star through a records request reveals the dispatches, both for and against clemency, that have flooded his office over the past two years. The documents include the messages sent to Parson through an online “contact the governor’s office” form. They offer a window into the rush to sway what is one of the most consequential remaining decisions of the governor’s term.
The messages, spread across nearly 250 pages, underscore the depth of division within Kansas City and the surrounding area over whether DeValkenaere should receive clemency. In the final months of Parson’s time in office, they offer a window into the arguments the governor’s office has heard on both sides of the question.
In September 2023, as DeValkenaere’s case made its way through an appeals court, Matthew Moore, a friend of the Lamb family who has spoken publicly about the case, wrote to the Republican governor with a very different message than Reno. In his email, he said DeValkenaere’s killing of Lamb had violated his Fourth Amendment constitutional rights. Prosecuting the case was a struggle in a city “still dominated by Jim Crow,” he wrote.
“Governor Parson I beg you to let due process run its course and to refrain from pardoning this officer who robbed three beautiful children of their father, for no reason at all,” Moore wrote. “Our community is already suffering from hopelessness and depression and we are just now starting to turn things around to create life out of death in our community. I beg you to be a part of the solution.”
The possibility that Parson will pardon or commute the sentence of DeValkenaere has hung over his case ever since a judge convicted him in 2021 of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. But attention on the potential for clemency ramped up after Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker in June 2023 made public a letter urging Parson not to pardon the former detective.
Since then, DeValkenaere’s wife, Sarah DeValkenaere, has led a public campaign on behalf of her husband and a clemency request has been made on his behalf. Parson has also grown more unguarded when asked about the case.
The governor told a radio interviewer earlier this month that “I don’t like where he’s at” and that “we’re going to see what happens here before long” – his most suggestive public comments to date. The clock is ticking for the governor, who will leave office in January.
Parson spokesman Johnathan Shiflett said this week that Parson hadn’t made a clemency decision.
“As far as a timeline, Governor Parson retains his clemency powers until the end of his term,” Shiflett said.
Pardon called ‘sickening’
The messages obtained by The Star, which are concentrated in 2023, chart the growing sense of urgency among supporters and opponents of clemency, especially after Baker’s letter.
One message sent in the wake of the letter, coming from someone who identifies herself as the wife of a KCPD officer, warns that morale is low within the department and sharply criticizes Baker as a prosecutor who “wants to put cops in jail.” Baker, the person warns, is trying to tell Parson how to do his job. The possibility of violent protests if DeValkenaere is freed shouldn’t stop the governor, she says.
“I certainly don’t want to see our city go through what we saw in 2021, but if that is what it takes to give an innocent man his freedom, I will be first in line to volunteer for the clean up crew,” the person wrote.
Another message came from Cassandra Wainright, a pastor and leader with the Concerned Clergy Coalition of Kansas City. She underscored that DeValeknaere had been tried and convicted and warned the case continued to reach “heights of negative notoriety” for Kansas City and Missouri.
She questioned what message a pardon would send to the Black community, to Lamb’s family and to the judicial system.
“The law has spoken. Do something that is integral and serves the best interest of the people who have been impacted the most. If it were a white victim and a Black officer, would you be willing to pardon the officer then? This is sickening on so many levels,” Wainwright wrote. “IF this happens, it will be a sad commentary of your role as Governor.”
Even before speculation over clemency became widespread, some Kansas City civic leaders had criticized DeValkenaere’s ability to stay out of jail even after his conviction. The former detective remained free on bond as he appealed the verdict, angering those who saw as a double standard in the treatment of a white law enforcement officer compared to many Black defendants.
“Cameron Lamb’s family deserves justice,” one message said. “Stop interfering with the court process and let DeValkenaere face consequences for his actions that lead to a criminal conviction.”
Law enforcement support
Law enforcement supporters have rallied to DeValkenaere’s side, however. In their messages, they cast Lamb as a criminal and DeValkenaere as an officer forced into a split-second decision who shouldn’t be second guessed. They are critical of Baker and, more broadly, perceived anti-law enforcement attitudes within Kansas City.
One Raytown resident who messaged Parson’s office said their family was planning to move “north of the river” as soon as possible. “I feel like if I was ever placed in a position to defend myself I would not get fair treatment in Jackson county,” the person wrote.
Kristina Goodin, who listed a KCPD email address and gave the address of police headquarters, urged Parson to immediately pardon DeValkenaere in an October message. Goodin, wrote that the governor needed to stand up against people attempting to ruin the country by whittling away the law enforcement community.
On a daily basis, Goodin wrote, “we put our lives on the line” for strangers and in return are publicly chastised for split-second decisions.
“The judicial system has been thrown into disarray by democrats, attorneys, and the extremist Al Sharpton’s of the world,” Goodin wrote. “How many police funerals had he attended vs the funerals of felons across the country? How much racism has be fueled vs quashed? How can you stand by and let this happen? You have the power to begin the reinstatement of justice NOT for the criminal but for the peacekeepers!”
Kansas City police spokesman Jake Becchina said Goodin was employed until 2019, and last worked in the Patrol Bureau. She then served on a volunteer basis as a reserve sergeant but is no longer in that role and isn’t affiliated with KCPD.
Kansas City Police Chief Stacey Graves has previously told The Star that it is not unusual for police officers to show their support for a colleague in peril and called the entire situation “a tragedy.”
Graves’ husband, KCPD Capt. Daniel Graves, wrote a letter seeking leniency from the court amid DeValkenaere’s appeal. Daniel Graves has said DeValkenaere lived across the street from their Northland home in 2008.
The messages to Parson don’t appear to include any messages from Daniel Graves to the governor.
A June 19, 2023, message – from someone in Manistee, Michigan – said most police officers are committed to the rule of law. Still, this person said some act less than honorably and violate the civil rights of citizens.
These officers need to be held accountable, the individual wrote, adding that DeValkenaere shouldn’t be pardoned.
“Please uphold the rule of law,” the message ended.
