Kansas man who shot Black teen Ralph Yarl pleads not guilty
A white 84-year-old homeowner who is accused of shooting a Black teenager after the high schooler mistakenly came to his Kansas City home entered a not-guilty plea on Wednesday, and the judge scheduled his trial for next year.
Andrew Lester, a retired aircraft mechanic, is charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the 13 April shooting of Ralph Yarl. The trial in the case, which shocked the country and renewed national debates about gun policies and race in America, was scheduled to begin on 7 October 2024.
Some supporters joined Yarl’s mother in the courtroom, their T-shirts reading “Ringing a doorbell is not a crime” turned inside out. Philip Barrolle, a family friend, said they wore the shirts that way after being told by the court the shirts were a problem. Supporters have worn them in the past, but an order issued on Monday barred “outbreaks, signs, or displays of any kind”.
“It is up to us to have our presence felt,” Barrolle complained afterward.
The not-guilty plea, entered by Steve Salmon, Lester’s attorney, is largely a procedural step, and the hearing lasted just five minutes. Lester also pleaded not guilty soon after he was charged, but this is his first court appearance since a judge found sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
Salmon said at the preliminary hearing that Lester was acting in selfdefense, terrified by the stranger who knocked on his door as he settled into bed for the night.
Yarl testified at the hearing that he was sent to pick up his twin siblings but had no phone – he’d lost it at school. The house he intended to go to was just blocks from his own home, but he had the street wrong.
Yarl testified that he rang the bell and the wait for someone to answer seemed “longer than normal”. As the inner door opened, Yarl said he reached out to grab the storm door, assum
ing his brothers’ friend’s parents were there.
Instead, it was Lester, who told him, “Don’t come here ever again,” Yarl recalled. He said he was shot in the head, the impact knocking him to the ground, and was then shot in the arm.
The shot to his head left a bullet embedded in his skull, testified Dr Jo Ling Goh, a pediatric neurosurgeon who treated Yarl. It did not penetrate his brain, however, and he was able to go back to high school. He is now a senior and making plans to major in engineering in college.