Former Kansas City Police Detective Eric DeValkenaere will not spend Christmas in prison, but his days as a cop are over, at least in Missouri. Missouri GOP Gov. Mike Parson commuted DeValkenaere’s six-year prison sentence Friday, one year after he started serving. He was convicted in 2021 of killing 26-year-old Cameron Lamb as he backed into his garage. DeValkenaere’s release was not a surprise. Back in September, the governor told a Kansas City radio station that the case against the 45-year-old cop had been politicized by an overzealous prosecutor. And if Parson hadn’t freed DeValkenaere, his successor, Mike Kehoe, who takes office next month, said he’d issue a pardon. Eric DeValkenaere, 43, (right)was charged after 26-year-old Cameron Lamb (left) was shot dead by DeValkenaere as Lamb sat in a pickup truck in his own backyard on Dec. 3, 2019. (Photo: 41 Action News/ YouTube screenshot) Parson decided against a pardon, commuting the sentence instead. It’s an important distinction. According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, a full pardon, while not removing the conviction from the individual’s criminal record, does restore all rights of citizenship and strips any punishment accompanying the conviction. Those consequences remain in a commutation, which only shortens the sentence. The terms of DeValkenaere’s parole prohibit him from possessing firearms or traveling out of state without permission. When someone is convicted of a crime in Missouri, according to the state Department of Corrections, they are permanently disqualified from holding public office or serving as a juror. Also, voting rights can be restricted based on the terms of his probation. If pardoned, DeValkenaere could’ve resumed working as a police officer. But the commutation prevents that from ever happening. Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, which backed DeValkenaere, said they “will continue to fight to completely clear” his name. “While we strongly maintain that Eric is completely innocent, even those who do not must recognize that the ends of justice are not served by his incarceration,” Johnson said in a statement. But many in the community decried Parson’s decision. Gwendolyn Grant, president and CEO of the Urban League of Greater Kansas City, said the commutation “will fuel deeper divisions and ignite justified outrage” and is “nothing short of a flagrant endorsement of systemic racism and a betrayal of justice.” “By freeing a convicted officer who unlawfully killed Cameron Lamb, a young Black man, the governor has made it crystal clear that Black lives do not matter in the state of Missouri under his leadership,” she said. DeValkenaere, who is white, was found guilty of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in Lamb’s 2019 death. It marked the first time a Kansas City police officer was convicted for the killing of a Black man. DeValkenaere and his partner were responding to an alleged physical confrontation between Lamb and his girlfriend. Lamb had been chasing the woman in his red pickup but returned home after receiving a phone call from his roommate. The officers were waiting for him, guns drawn, though they had not secured a warrant. Lamb was backing down his driveway when the cops, dressed in plainclothes, pounced. Within nine seconds, he would be shot dead. DeValkenaere alleged the victim had pointed a handgun at his partner, but evidence introduced at his trial revealed that he had planted the weapon. The presiding judge, Dale Young, said DeValkenaere and the officer with him needlessly escalated the situation. But Missouri’s Republican politicians were quick to defend DeValkenaere. State Attorney General Andrew Bailey supported an official review of the prosecution, arguing that the veteran detective’s use of deadly force was within reason. DeValkenaere appealed the verdict and remained free on bond until 2023 when Missouri’s Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal. Lamb’s family has yet to publicly react to DeValkenaere’s release. Pastor Darron Edwards, who’s been with the family since the beginning of the case, told KSHB-TV 41, “They’re not ready to sing “We Shall Overcome” right now. They want to figure out why this has happened.” The Lambs lobbied the governor against providing clemency, to no avail. “The law clearly spoke, and if you wanna be the governor for the people, then let the law work for everybody,” Lamb’s father, Aquil Bey, said earlier this year. ‘A Betrayal of Justice’: Kansas City Detective Convicted of Killing Black Man In His Own Garage and Allegedly Planting Gun Freed By Republician Missouri Governor, Sparking Outrage