Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old suspect in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, entered a plea of ‘not guilty’ in court Wednesday.
Lester appeared in front of a Clay County judge after reportedly coming into the courthouse through a back door. Yarl’s family attorney Lee Merritt was at the courthouse. Merritt said Yarl’s family chose not to come after getting slammed with media interviews on Tuesday. Merritt said Yarl is making a strong recovery. He also talked about Lester and the case moving forward, saying he is calling for an investigation into a federal hate crime charges.
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“He’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison,” Merritt said. “That’s the outcome that we’re hoping for, all of his assets are going to be come Ralph’s assets, and he’s going to have to deal with that.”
As we previously reported, Just hours after surrendering to police in Kansas City, Missouri on two felony charges, Andrew Lester was released on a $200,000 bond in the Ralph Yarl shooting.
Lester told police that he was shooting in self-defense, because he believed Yarl was there to break into his home. He said firing his gun was “the last thing he wanted to do,” but was “scared to death” because of Yarl’s size and his age.
When police searched Lester’s home, they found a loaded Smith and Wesson .32 caliber revolver, with two spent shell casings still inside of the cylinder, plus live rounds in the chamber.
The officers revealed that they received a 911 phone call from a neighbor who believed the suspect who shot Yarl was a nearby homeowner — to which officers confirmed when they approached Lester’s home and saw the front storm door glass shattered on the floor, along with blood on the front porch and driveway.
Upon their initial investigation, police arrested Lester and took him to a station to grab a mugshot. A few days later, he was officially charged with two felony counts: first degree assault and armed criminal action.