Andrew Lester pleaded not guilty in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager who mistakenly knocked on Lester’s front door looking for his younger brothers.
In Texas, two cheerleaders were shot after one of them mistakenly got into a car thinking it was hers.Some civil rights leaders and Yarl’s family attorney, Lee Merritt, have urged prosecutors to charge Lester with a hate crime, with Merritt noting that Yarl “was armed only with his Black skin.”Andrew Lester, 84, surrendered a day after being charged with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of Ralph Yarl.
Yarl’s relatives were not at Wedneday’s hearing because they are emotionally exhausted, Merritt said. Lester’s attorney, Steve Salmon, did not come out of the courthouse to speak with reporters. Lester told police he lives alone and was “scared to death” when he saw Yarl on the porch because he thought someone was trying to break in, police said in court documents.Ralph Yarl went to the wrong Kansas City, Mo., home to pick up his brothers and was shot in the head. An 84-year-old white man has been charged with assault.
Legal experts expect Lester to claim self-defense and cite Missouri’s “Stand Your Ground” law, sometimes referred to as the “Castle Doctrine.” Missouri is among about 30 states with similar laws that say residents don’t have to retreat when threatened in their homes, but instead can respond with physical, even lethal force.
“No parent should have to worry that their kid will be shot after ringing the wrong doorbell,” Biden tweeted. “We’ve got to keep up the fight against gun violence.”
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