An 86-year-old Kansas City man has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who was then 16 and rang the man’s doorbell by mistake.
Andrew Lester pleaded guilty to lesser charge in shooting of Black honor student who mistakenly rang his doorbell.
Andrew Lester’s plea on Friday came days before he was supposed to stand trial on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the teenaged student.
Lester, a retired aircraft mechanic, maintained he was acting in self-defense as well as out of a reasonable fear for his safety, and he initially entered a plea of not guilty.
Yarl showed up on Lester’s doorstep in April 2023 after he mixed up the streets where he was supposed to pick up his twin siblings.
