Judge rules Andrew Lester will stand trial in shooting of Ralph Yarl
Andrew Lester, the Missouri man charged in the shooting of Ralph Yarl after the teenager mistakenly went to the wrong house, will face trial, a Clay County judge ruled during a preliminary hearing on Thursday.
Following testimony from 12 witnesses in a Liberty courtroom, Clay County Judge Louis Angles said that there was enough probable cause that a felony has been committed.
Lester, who did not take the stand, appeared in court with his attorney Steve Salmon.
"The binding over of a defendant from a preliminary hearing is fairly normal. The prosecutor simply needs to provide probable cause to bind the case over," Salmon told ABC News after the ruling.
"There was certainly no evidence that race had anything to do with this incident. Also, there was an admission that Yarl grabbed the storm door handle of Lester's door to gain access to the house. That is a critical aspect of this case and has been Mr. Lester's contention all along," he added.
Yarl and his mother, Cleo Nagbe, testified on Thursday afternoon as the teenager faced Lester for the first time since the shooting on April 13.
Yarl, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after the shooting, was soft spoken during his testimony and was asked to speak up several times.
He testified that he is still dealing with the physical and mental impact of the shooting as he recounted the moments before he was shot.
Yarl said that he believed that he was going to the correct address to pick up his siblings.
"I thought I knew where it was at," he said, but added that although his mother gave him the correct address, he was got confused.
He said that he rang the doorbell and waited "an amount of time I considered longer than normal."
Yarl said that eventually he heard the main interior wooden door open and as it door opened, he said that he reached for the locked glass storm door and was shot twice -- the first time in his head and once again when he was on the ground.
He said that he never said anything to Lester, but after the shooting Lester said, "don't come here ever again."
Lester – a homeowner in Kansas City, Missouri – shot Yarl in the head and in the right arm on the evening of April 13, according to police, after the teenager mistakenly arrived at the wrong address – Lester's home – to pick up his twin siblings.
Lester, 84, was charged with one count of felony assault in the first degree and one count of armed criminal action, also a felony, Clay County prosecuting attorney Zachary Thompson said during a press conference on April 17.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on April 18 on a $200,000 bond.
Prosecutor Thompson said during closing arguments that it was not reasonable for Lester to shoot an "unarmed kid" two times because you don't know what he wants.
He also stressed that Yarl was shot through a closed and locked storm door.
During closing arguments, Salmon said that Lester is an elderly man with poor health who lives by himself.