A reader from Kansas sent us a fundraising letter she was unhappily surprised to have received on July 2, from the Virginia-based Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. It asked her for a donation for former KCPD detective Eric DeValkenaere, the first local officer ever held accountable in the shooting death of a Black man.
Styled as a lachrymose letter from DeValkenaere’s wife, Sarah, it reprised an earlier round of national fundraising for the former cop. Convicted of manslaughter in November of 2021, he has since then spent zero nights in jail, and never will serve a minute of his six-year sentence if Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has anything to say about it. Because, of course, all of those convicted of manslaughter are not treated the same way.
Fundraising letters are propagandistic by nature. It’s hardly surprising that the former detective’s wife would welcome support for her husband. Obviously, the hustled can respond as they see fit, even if the outfit raising funds for DeValkenaere did receive an F rating from Charity Watch in October of last year. And even if the LELDF hypocritically seeks stiffer sentences for non-cops, and none for those shooters with badges.
But with Missouri state officials so eager to ignore the verdict against this former officer, while arguing that all other verdicts were sent down from Mount Sinai, some fact-checking is still in order.
The letter from Mrs. DeValkenaere includes a photo of the couple, and tugs at every available...
We detected unusual activity from your device or network. Reasons may include: Rapid taps or clicks JavaScript disabled or not working Automated (bot) activity on your network (IP 216.218.191.