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By Glenn E. Rice
The Kansas City Star

Kansas City, Mo. (The Kansas City Star) — A former Kansas City police officer whose conviction in the shooting death of a Black man was upheld this week is to be taken to prison while a court decides whether to release him again while he pursues a second appeal, according to state law. online news

Eric J. DeValkenaere, who is white, was being held under protective custody Friday in the Platte County jail, where he has been since he surrendered to authorities Tuesday. An arrest warrant had been issued for him that day after the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, upheld his conviction in the 2019 killing of 26-year-old Cameron Lamb.

In a rare decision by a Jackson County judge, DeValkenaere had been allowed to remain free on bond for nearly two years while he appealed his 2021 conviction on charges of involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action. DeValkenaere, 44, is the first Kansas City police officer to be convicted in the shooting death of a Black man.

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On Wednesday, after one day in jail, he sought through a new court filing to be released on bond again while pursuing an appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.

It should take about a week for the Court of Appeals to take up the question of whether to grant DeValkenaere’s motion to be released on bond again, according to a court official who answered the phone this week. The official said they are responsible for answering questions from news organizations but declined to give their name.

The decision will be made by the same panel of judges who ruled on DeValkenaere’s appeal: W. Douglas Thomson, Janet Sutton and Thomas N. Chapman. No hearings will be scheduled on the motion unless the court orders it.

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The judges are not expected to make a decision before Oct. 26, about five business days after the motion was filed.
Missouri attorney general has not opposed bond

In the court filing seeking to have DeValkenaere released again, attorney Jonathan Laurans wrote that the former officer had not violated any of the conditions of the previous bond set down by the Jackson County court in February 2022.

He is not a flight risk and Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office has no objection to their motion, Laurans said.

Madeline Sieren, a spokesperson for the Missouri attorney general’s office, declined to comment on the effort to have DeValkenaere released. The attorney general had not filed a motion in the case as of Friday.

In DeValkenaere’s previous appeal, Bailey, whose office is tasked with arguing on behalf of the state, instead sided with DeValkenaere and said the involuntary manslaughter conviction should be overturned.
Devalkenaere to be taken to prison

When he is taken to prison, DeValkenaere could be assigned to one of the Missouri Department of Corrections’ three reception and diagnostic facilities for men in St. Joseph, Bonne Terre or Fulton, according to state officials.

Garry Brix, a spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said he did not know when that would happen.

There is no scheduled day for prisoners to be taken from the Platte County Detention Center to a state prison, said Maj. Erik Holland of the Platte County Sheriff’s Office, the agency that oversees the county jail.

“When we get the sentence and judgment paperwork from the sentencing court we coordinate with the Department of Corrections,” Holland said.

“We do not notify the inmate, their family or the public of the transfer date or the destination facility before we transport anyone to the facility designated by DOC due to security reasons.”