Array
JEFFERSON Andrew Lester had already gone to bed when the doorbell rang a little before 10 p.m. He got up, grabbed a gun and went to check it out. Seeing a Black male appearing to pull the handle of the front door, police say the 84-year-old white man opened fire. No questions asked.
Lester told police he believed someone was attempting to break into his house.
That belief — though wrong — could become a defense as Lester faces charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action for shooting 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, an honor student who went to the wrong Kansas City address while attempting to pick up his younger siblings.
The case, which has stirred outrage across the country, could shine a light on one of the most common self-defense policies in the U.S — the right to protect yourself in your home. Most states have some version of a “castle doctrine,» either by law or court precedent, that says residents don’t have to retreat when threatened in their homes but instead can respond with physical force.
Missouri is one of about 30 states that also have “stand your ground” laws, which provide even broader self-defense rights regardless of the location.
MISSOURI’S SELF-DEFENSE LAW
A 2007 Missouri law allows people to use deadly force under certain circumstances, including against someone who “attempts to unlawfully enter a dwelling, residence or vehicle» that is occupied. The legislation, backed by the National Rifle Association, was passed overwhelmingly by the Republican-led Legislature.
Then-Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican, enacted the law with fanfare by flying around the state to promote it.
The law «ensures law-abiding Missourians will not be punished when they use force to defend themselves and their family from attacks in their own home or vehicle,” Blunt said in a statement at the time.
In 2016, Missouri lawmakers overrode the veto of then-Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, to expand the castle doctrine into a broader stand your ground law — applying the no-retreat self-defense to people in “any other location such person has the right to be.
