LIBERTY, Mo. (AP) — An 86-year-old Kansas City man pleaded guilty Friday to a lesser charge in the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang the white man’s doorbell by mistake.
Andrew Lester was scheduled to stand trial next week on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the then-16-year-old, who survived and has since graduated from high school.
As part of a plea deal, Lester pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, a charge that Judge David Chamberlain said carried a sentence of one to seven years. Lester, who will be sentenced on March 7, was hunched over as he was wheeled into the courtroom, his hands folded.
Yarl and his mother, Cleo Nagbe, sat in the front row during the hearing.
In a statement issued after Lester's plea, Nagbe thanked her family's supporters who “saw Ralph’s humanity, and rejected a world where fear and prejudice endanger innocent lives.”
“While this marks a step toward accountability, true justice requires consequences that reflect the severity of his actions — anything less would be a failure to recognize the harm he has caused,” she said.
Under the first-degree assault charge, Lester was facing a potential sentence of between 15 and 30 years behind bars, depending on the circumstances. One of the key elements of second-degree assault is that defendants “have the burden of injecting the issue of influence of sudden passion arising from adequate cause.”
“This is probably perceived as some middle ground, and the heat of passion would be what was the motivation for the shooting,” said J.R. Hobbs, a Kansas City defense attorney who is not involved in the case. “If he was afraid or whatever, it may not rise to a full defense. The parties might agree to that because on one hand, it’s a felony conviction — no trial, no possible appeal. On the other hand, with a lesser statutory limit, the defendant’s exposure is less as well.”
Yarl showed up on Lester’s doorstep on the night of April 13, 2023, after he mixed up the streets where he was supposed to pick up his twin siblings.
Lester’s attorney, Steve Salmon, has long argued that Lester was acting in self-defense and that he was terrified by the stranger who knocked on his door as he settled into bed. Authorities say Lester shot Yarl twice: first in the head, then in the arm.
The shooting shocked the country and renewed national debate about gun policies and race in the U.S.
Yarl testified at an earlier hearing that he rang the bell and then waited for someone to answer for what seemed “longer than normal.” As the inner door opened, Yarl said, he reached out to grab the storm door.
“I assume these are my brothers’ friends’ parents,” he said.
He said Lester shot him in the head and uttered, “Don’t come here ever again.” Although the bullet didn’t penetrate Yarl’s brain, the impact knocked him to the ground. Yarl said Lester then shot him in the arm. The teen was taken to the hospital and released three days later.
His family said the shooting took a big emotional toll and they have filed a lawsuit against the retired aircraft mechanic.
Salmon said last year that Lester’s physical and mental condition had deteriorated. He said Lester has had heart issues, a broken hip and has been hospitalized. Lester also has lost 50 pounds (23 kilograms), which Salmon blamed on the stress of intense media coverage and death threats he subsequently received.
During Friday's hearing, the judge asked Lester whether he was in poor health. Lester responded yes.
A judge had previously ordered a mental evaluation of Lester but allowed for the trial to proceed after its completion. The results of that evaluation were not released publicly.
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Associated Press writer Kia Breaux contributed from Kansas City, Missouri.
Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated Press
