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Ralph Yarl shooting may revive ‘stand your ground’ debate: About the laws
Washington Post via MSN ^ | April 18, 2023 | Kelsey Ables

Posted on 04/18/2023 5:49:45 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?

A White man in Kansas City is accused of shooting a Black teenager who rang his doorbell by mistake, renewing attention on Missouri’s self-defense laws after the man, Andrew Lester, 84, said he shot Ralph Yarl, 16, because he feared for his safety.

Lester has since been charged with two felonies and said he was “scared to death” when the teen showed up at his front door. Yarl, who has been described by a family friend as quiet and respectful, was trying to pick up his siblings from a friend’s house and went to the wrong address. The shooting, which the prosecutor acknowledged had a racial component, has sparked protests calling for strong action against Lester.

Self-defense laws known as “stand your ground” statutes and “castle doctrine” — are part of many of states’ legal frameworks and have increasingly been part of the debate over gun violence. Here’s what you need to know......

Lester, the homeowner, said that he shot Yarl because he believed he “was protecting himself from a physical confrontation” and that he heard Yarl pulling on the storm door, the criminal complaint says, setting up a potential defense that relies on Missouri’s self-defense laws. According to Yarl’s statement, he rang the doorbell and waited quietly for a few minutes before Lester opened the door and fired on him.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: banglist; guns; kansascity; missouri; shooting; yarl
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To: snarkybob
> It’s already been a television episode. Based on a Stephen King short story. <

Stephen King is always stealing my ideas. I think I’m going to contact a lawyer, maybe Jackie Chiles from ‘Seinfeld’.


61 posted on 04/18/2023 7:58:17 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: linMcHlp

ever open a storm door to knock on the main door?


62 posted on 04/18/2023 8:04:40 AM PDT by joshua c (to disrupt the system, we must disrupt our lives, cut the cable tv)
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To: linMcHlp

Yeah, standing a few feet away is necessary just do the door peephole can work. Entering a house without giving the occupant an opportunity to vet you is just stupid.

As to opening a screen door, that is common in many areas. Knocking on a closed screen door sounds horrid, threatening. Opening it and knocking on the wooden door frame is a lot less threatening. Just standing there with the screen door in your hands is back to being threatening.


63 posted on 04/18/2023 8:38:49 AM PDT by bobbo666 (Baizuo)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

If the kid got aggressive and was trying to open the door (fingerprints) late in the evening then that changes a lot.

Most 84-year-old men don’t have much fight left in them physically, their bodies are mostly hollow and frail which means they can stand, and they can walk, but they can’t meet a teen’s charge and use their bodies in a fighting situation, the bones and muscles have been replaced with arthritis and brittle bones and joints that don’t work.

We’ll have to see how the evidence goes.


64 posted on 04/18/2023 8:41:18 AM PDT by ansel12 (NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.)
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To: Highest Authority
Why do all these young people keep going to the wrong address?

It would appear that these "youths" really admire the cops, and want to be just like them.

65 posted on 04/18/2023 8:44:34 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Chicory

Another report says the kid was rattling the door latch to the Glass storm door.


66 posted on 04/18/2023 8:46:13 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: TexasFreeper2009

THE LIGHTS WERE OFF-—

Old man was in bed.

THESE facts didn’t register on the kid???? The “INTELLECTUALLY SUPERIOR kid???

IF his brothers were there-—why would house be DARK???


67 posted on 04/18/2023 8:49:08 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: napscoordinator

LIGHTS are off.

10 PM.

You are 85 y/o

You live alone

You are in bed.

Black kid rings bell.

You have NO IDEA WHY at 10 PM

Black kid is rattling door latch on outer glass storm door.

You think it is attempted break in....

What would ANY NORMAL PERSON’S REACTION BE???

IF IT had been broad daylight & high noon—perhaps a different story-—BUT it wasn’t those conditions.

Too much criminal behavior in the dark community to be taking ANY chances—

This is the LEGACY from Geo Floyd riots, etc.


68 posted on 04/18/2023 8:54:43 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: Ezekiel

One report says hen didn’t have his phone with him.....

NOT buying THAT.

Most kids have a phone IMPLANT


69 posted on 04/18/2023 8:57:35 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: 1Old Pro

Isn’t the storm door just the screen door, so its not even the main door, and I can understand someone pulling it open to be able to knock properly on the actual door.


70 posted on 04/18/2023 8:57:47 AM PDT by battousai (Let's Go Brandon!)
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To: ridesthemiles

He did not try to open the door! In fact the idiot guy shot him through the screen door. Fear of blacks won’t cut it with the jury.


71 posted on 04/18/2023 9:08:15 AM PDT by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: linMcHlp

“As a rule, knock on the door, or use the doorbell / door-knocker . . . and then get off the front porch and stand back on the sidewalk at least 10 ft away.”

That’s what the police in Farmington, NM did just before the homeowner opened the door with a gun in hand and then aimed the gun at one of the officers. The police promptly shot him dead


72 posted on 04/18/2023 9:14:05 AM PDT by Armscor38
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Hard to claim one is in fear for their life if they walk up to the door and open it.


73 posted on 04/18/2023 9:17:37 AM PDT by Armscor38
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To: BobL

“Sounds to me this has NOTHING TO DO with Stand Your Ground.”

I agree with you.


74 posted on 04/18/2023 9:19:35 AM PDT by Parley Baer (WI)
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To: the OlLine Rebel

I fear he is guilty of manslaughter.

ATTEMPTED maybe, since the kid is still alive, and at home.


75 posted on 04/18/2023 10:15:56 AM PDT by ro_dreaming (Who knew "Idiocracy", "1984", "Enemy of the State", and "Person of Interest" would be non-fiction?)
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To: Leaning Right

This happened to me last month on a drive to TN from KS. I ended up in backwater KY, on a two-lane road. Yes, I heard banjos.


76 posted on 04/18/2023 11:51:07 AM PDT by Man from Oz
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To: TexasFreeper2009

“Terrified”? Your scenario isn’t particularly terrifying to me, but even so it wouldn’t mean you’re entitled to use deadly force.


77 posted on 04/18/2023 11:52:36 AM PDT by Miami Rebel
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

I read, yesterday that Yarl said that it took the man an unusually long time to respond. It didn’t say if he was knocking or ringing the doorbell. It certainly didn’t mention opening the storm door. I also read that the Michael Brown lawyer was speaking for the family.


78 posted on 04/18/2023 11:57:56 AM PDT by Eva
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To: Miami Rebel

If I go to the door in the middle of the night and someone is trying to ENTER my house, or I THINK they are trying to enter (opening or turning the handle).

I am going to be scared to death.

Would I shoot them? no, because I wouldn’t be answering the door with a gun, but that’s me. But I can understand someone else even more scared doing differently.

Here is the deal.

Lets just assume the exact same situation happened... BUT it was a home invader who intended to force their way into the home and kill the old man. The old guy goes to the door... opens the inner door so see the home invader opening the outer porch door. IF it WAS a home invader the old man would of only had a FRACTION of a second (since he opened the inner door already) before the home invader would of attacked him.

I know.. this kid was just confused and innocent, and simply at the wrong house. BUT the old man had to make a 1/100th of a second decision that his LIFE depended on.

I am just thankful the poor kid didn’t die, and hope he has a full recovery. But I feel sorry for the old man.


79 posted on 04/18/2023 12:03:47 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: TexasFreeper2009

I personally think the old man agreeing to pay for the kids hospital bills would have been more appropriate than criminal charges.


80 posted on 04/18/2023 12:08:58 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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