PLEA DEAL

86-Year-Old Man Who Shot Ralph Yarl, Teen Who Rang Wrong Doorbell, Pleads Guilty

Andrew Lester pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and will be sentenced on March 7.

Andrew Lester, an 86-year-old resident of Kansas City, Missouri, has pleaded guilty in the case of the 2023 shooting of 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, a local teenager who rang his doorbell by mistake, CNN reports. Lester’s trial was scheduled to begin next week, where he would have faced charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action; in pleading guilty, he accepted a lesser charge of second-degree assault, which carries a sentence of up to seven years compared to the former’s sentence of anywhere from 15 to 30 years. Yarl was shot when he mistakenly rang Lester’s doorbell, thinking he was at a different house to pick up his twin siblings from their friends’ home. Lester, whose attorney argued he was acting in self-defense because he was terrified, shot the teenager twice. Despite being shot in the head and the arm, Yarl survived. He has since gone on to graduate high school. Lester will be sentenced on March 7.