More than a year ago, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker warned Missouri Gov. Mike Parson that pardoning former Kansas City police detective Eric DeValkenaere, the city’s first officer ever convicted of killing a Black man, would fuel distrust in the public safety system.
Parson’s chief of staff at the time blasted the Democratic prosecutor’s warning , contained in a letter, accusing her of “weaponizing” it for political purposes.
On Friday, the Republican governor freed DeValkenaere from prison, issuing a commutation that placed the former detective on parole. Community activists, officials and others who have closely watched the case say the action will sharply damage relationships between Kansas City residents and police – as Baker predicted…