A judge announced Tuesday that the prosecution of an 86-year-old white man accused of killing a Black youngster in Kansas City, Missouri, last year through the wrong door will proceed.
Judge David P. Chamberlain of Clay County Circuit Court approved Andrew Lester’s mental exam in September. It was finished and recorded on November 15 but was otherwise kept private.
According to court documents, the trial is set to begin on February 18 during a hearing in early October, and the report has not yet paused that date. If necessary, a second trial week was set for February 24.
Ralph Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, said the family is happy the lawsuit was kept on track.
In a statement to Kansas City, Missouri’s NBC station KSHB, Ralph Yarl’s family expressed gratitude that the trial against Andrew Lester is proceeding.In addition to accountability, this case is a step toward justice for Ralph’s and our family’s pain caused by him ringing the doorbell at the wrong house.
Lester’s defense requested a postponement of a pretrial hearing that was set on Tuesday to January 25 “for good cause shown,” according to court filings. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the defendant’s attorney.
Lester, a former aviation mechanic, entered a not guilty plea to the first-degree assault and armed criminal action allegations in the felony case. On April 13, 2023, he is charged with shooting Yarl, who was 16 at the time, with a revolver when the adolescent rang his doorbell just before 10 p.m.
A round grazed Yarl’s skull, leaving a scar to remind him of the incident; another round hit his arm. Yarl lived and recovered.
According to his family’s attorneys, he went to Lester’s door because he was supposed to pick up his younger twin brothers from a friend’s house, but he mistook Northeast 115th Street for Northeast 115th Terrace.
According to his family’s attorneys, Yarl sought assistance from the occupants of nearby residences following the gunshot and was ultimately admitted to the hospital. According to investigators, Lester called the police and told them that he had opened fire out of fear. Following the filing of charges amid the commotion surrounding the teen’s shooting, he handed himself in a few days later.
Publicity surrounding the case, including protests against the way the legal system has treated Lester compared to defendants of color, has been asserted by the man’s defense to taint a jury and any consideration that his acts may have been fair and legal.
In May 2023, a judge assigned to the case last year stated that the shooting’s publicity sparked concerns about potential racist motivation and could contaminate the pool of potential jurors.
Celebrities Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Chrissy Teigen, Kim Kardashian, and Viola Davis all made statements about the case that were recorded as evidence of how far and extensively the shooting’s news has circulated.
Following his shooting, Yarl has stated that he is dealing with trauma. In an April interview, he stated, “There’s always a part of me that says that person could potentially be dangerous.”
In her statement on Tuesday, Yarl’s mother stated, “We are still dedicated to pursuing justice and making sure that no other family must endure such suffering because of the color of their skin.”
Lester faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if the assault accusation against him is properly prosecuted. If convicted of the armed criminal activity charge, he faces a sentence of three to fifteen years in jail.
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