An octogenarian who shot and injured a teenager who rang the wrong doorbell in Kansas City, Mo., pleaded guilty on Friday to second-degree assault, resolving the case just days before a trial was set to begin.
Andrew D. Lester, 86, had been charged in state court with first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the April 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a high school student who arrived at the wrong house — Mr. Lester’s — while trying to pick up his younger brothers.
Mr. Lester, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, could face a range of sentences when he returns to court next month. The judge could send him to prison for up to seven years, issue a fine or both. Prosecutors said they would ask for a five-year prison term, though Mr. Lester is allowed to request a lesser sentence.
The shooting of Mr. Yarl, who is Black, by Mr. Lester, who is white, led to protests in Kansas City and a national outcry, including an invitation from former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for the teenager to visit the White House. It also raised painful questions about race in Kansas City, which has a long history of segregation. Many residents and politicians in the area said they believed that race played a role in the shooting, while the county prosecutor said early on that “there was a racial component to the case.”
Mr. Lester, who could have been sentenced to life in prison if convicted at trial on the most serious charge he faced, did not dispute shooting Mr. Yarl, who was 16 years old at the time and who is now in college. But months ago, Mr. Lester had pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer had indicated that he would claim self-defense at his trial, which was set to begin next week.
“This case centers on the reasonableness of actions taken, not the right to self-defense,” Zachary Thompson, the Clay County prosecutor, said in a statement after the plea hearing on Friday. He added that “Ralph made an innocent mistake, and the consequences — being shot twice — far exceeded any reasonable response.”
Mr. Yarl, wearing a dark coat, sat in the front row of the courtroom during the hearing on Friday, perhaps 10 feet from Mr. Lester. His mother, Cleo Nagbe, released a statement after Mr. Lester entered his plea that said, “We remain hopeful that his sentencing will not be merely a slap on the wrist but a decision that upholds the seriousness of his crime.”
“While this marks a step toward accountability, true justice requires consequences that reflect the severity of his actions — anything less would be a failure to recognize the harm he has caused,” Ms. Nagbe said.
A family spokeswoman said Mr. Yarl now attends Texas A&M University, where he is in the marching band.
Mr. Lester, who has become visibly more frail in court appearances since his arrest nearly two years ago, was pushed in a wheelchair into the small wood-paneled courtroom in suburban Kansas City on Friday. Wearing a white shirt and a dark sport coat, he sat with his back hunched and his eyes often cast downward.
During the hearing, Mr. Lester, a retired aircraft mechanic, answered in soft but clear yes-sirs as the judge asked him a series of questions about whether he understood what was happening and whether he really wanted to plead guilty. His lawyer, Steven Salmon, did not say what sentence he would request and did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the plea agreement.
The case had originally been scheduled to go to trial last year, but those plans were delayed after Mr. Salmon raised concerns about his client’s health and described “a marked reduction” in Mr. Lester’s mental acuity in a court filing.
Mr. Salmon said that Mr. Lester had sustained a broken hip while the case was pending and had started having “manifest memory issues relating to pertinent case facts.” But after a delay, the judge ordered the trial to go forward.
The clearest public airing of the case came during a preliminary hearing in 2023, in which Mr. Yarl told the court how he had pulled into a driveway at Mr. Lester’s home, thinking incorrectly that his siblings were inside, then rang the doorbell and waited. When the wooden interior door finally started to open, Mr. Yarl described placing his hand on the glass storm door, only to retreat when he spotted a stranger grasping a gun.
“He holds it up and says, ‘Don’t ever come here again,’” Mr. Yarl said in court as he described being shot in the head.
Mr. Yarl’s siblings had been at a nearby home that had an address that was similar to Mr. Lester’s.
Mr. Salmon said at the 2023 hearing that the shooting was the tragic product of a “mutual mistake,” in which an old man with health problems found a stranger on his porch late at night and reasonably, if incorrectly, thought that the visitor posed a threat.
“A terrible event occurred,” Mr. Salmon said. “It’s not a criminal event, however.”
But Mr. Thompson, the prosecutor, told the judge at that hearing that self-defense did not apply in this case.
“You do not have the right to shoot an unarmed kid through a door two times,” Mr. Thompson said at the time.
Julie Bosman and Kate Selig contributed reporting.