KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Eric DeValkenaere’s attorney filed a motion Wednesday to have his appeal bond reinstated.
DeValkenaere, a former Kansas City, Missouri, police detective, shot and killed Cameron Lamb on Dec. 3, 2019, during an encounter in the backyard of Lamb’s residence in the 4100 block of College Avenue.
After being indicted by a grand jury, DeValkenaere was convicted of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in Lamb’s death during a November 2021 bench trial.
Jackson County Circuit Court Presiding Judge J. Dale Youngs, who was on the bench for DeValkenaere’s prosecution, sentenced the former KCPD officer to six years in prison in March 2022.
Youngs also allowed DeValkenaere to remain free during the appeal process.
A three-judge panel for the Missouri Court of Appeals for Western Missouri affirmed DeValkenaere’s conviction in a 42-page opinion Tuesday.
The appeals court also revoked DeValkenaere’s bond and issued an arrest warrant.
DeValkenaere surrendered less than three hours later at the Platte County Sheriff's Office, but Wednesday’s motion seeks to have him freed and indicates that the case will be appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.
The motion from DeValkenaere’s attorney, Jonathan Laurans, indicates that he will file a motion for a rehearing and transfer. If denied, he will file a motion to the state’s high court.
Missouri law requires the case to be appealed within 15 days, so any appeal must come by Nov. 1.
According to the motion for reinstatement of the bond, Missouri Assistant Attorney General Shaun Mackelprang “has no objection to this motion.”
However, the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, which argued unsuccessfuly against the appeal bond last March, does.
"We have opposed an appeals bond since the beginning in this case; we continue to oppose, just as we do in other cases," Prosecuting Attorney Jean Peters Baker's Office said in a statement to KSHB 41 News. "But whether an appeals bond is reinstated or not is a matter for others to sort out."
After DeValkenaere appealed his conviction in October 2022, Mackelprang waited eight months to file the state’s response, which sided with DeValkenaere in asking for the case to be overturned — an unprecedented development, especially for such a high-profile case.
The Jackson County prosecutor's office filed an amicus brief and was allowed to step in and defend the verdict its office won at trial.
Laurans renewed arguments that the appeals court found unpersuasive at the Sept. 5 appellate hearing in seeking to have DeValkenaere’s bond reinstated.
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