The 86-year-old man from Missouri died just a few days after he pleaded guilty for a smaller allegation in shooting at Ralph Yarl in 2023, a student of black honor who, by mistake, called the door of a white man, announced on Wednesday.
Andrew Lester of Kansas City was accused of assaulting first degree and armed criminal action while shooting at the time a 16-year-old who survived and is currently a first-year student at the University of Texas A & m. Before his trial was to start, Lester pleaded guilty on Friday for a lower charge of the second degree, which leads to seven years behind bars.
He was to be convicted on March 7.
Cher Congour, spokesman for the Clay Ferrious Prosecutor's Office, said Lester's lawyer informed them about his death.
“We learned about Andrew Lester's departure and in this difficult time we have expanded our sincere condolences to his family,” said the prosecutor's office in a press release. “While court proceedings were now found, we admit that Mr. Lester has taken responsibility for his actions, confessing in this case.”
The press message was not the cause of death. Police in Kansas City said they did not investigate death. Sarah Boyd, spokeswoman for the Clay's Sheriff's Office, said that there was no information about the cause of Lester's death because he was not in detention, but he noticed that he was in “bad health” during the interrogation last week.
Shooting the victim's family “turns”
On Wednesday, Yarla's family said in a written statement that what happened was one of the reasons why they pressed on a quick trial.
“Now another black child hurt by prejudice will never see a man who shot him by facing the full weight of the justice system. While Lester finally pleaded guilty, he came at the last minute – after two years of dragging. The delay leaves our family rolling – said the statement.
The case shocked the country and renewed the national debate on the policy of weapons and the race in the USA
Yarl appeared on the threshold of Lester on the night of April 13, 2023, after he mixed the streets, where he was to pick up his twin siblings.
Lester's lawyer, Steve Salmon, argued that Lester was active in self -defense and that he was terrified by a stranger who knocked on his door when he settled in bed. The authorities claim that Lester shot Yarl twice: first in his head and then in the shoulder.
Yarl testified at the hearing that the bell rang, and then waited for someone to answer something that seemed “longer than usual”. When the interior door opened, Yarl said, he reached out to catch the storm's door, assuming he was at the house of his brothers' parents.
He said that Lester shot him in the head and said: “Don't come here anymore.” Although the bullet did not penetrate Yarl's brain, he influenced him to the ground.
Yarl said Lester shot him in the shoulder. The teenager was taken to the hospital and released three days later.
His family said that the shooting had large emotional fees and that they had filed a lawsuit against a retired aircraft mechanic.
Sagittarius had health, cognitive problems: lawyer
Salmon said last year that Lester's physical and mental condition worsened. He said Lester had heart problems, broken hip and was hospitalized.
During last week's interrogation, Lester was grabbed, when he was got into the courtroom, his hands were folded. Asked if he was in bad health, Lester answered yes.
The judge previously ordered Lester's mental assessment, but allowed him to continue the trial after its completion. The results of this assessment have not been published in public.
Yarla's shooting was not the only case of a wrong identity with serious consequences this week in the USA
Kaylin Gillis, a 20-year-old woman, was killed by the owner of the house in New York on April 15, 2023, after the vehicle driver was in the wrong address. When the car turned around, Kevin Monahan came out and fired two shots, one of which was hit by Gillis.
Monahan, 66 at the time of conviction last year, received a period of over 25 years of life in prison After convicting the jury, which only needed an hour to think.