Judge rules Andrew Lester case to be partially sealed in the shooting of teenager Ralph Yarl
A Clay County, Missouri judge agreed to partially seal the case of Andrew Lester, who is charged with first-degree assault in the shooting of teenager Ralph Yarl. Andrew Lester, the man charged with first-degree assault in the shooting of teenager Ralph Yarl, appeared in a Kansas City, Missouri, courtroom on Thursday afternoon. A judge on Thursday set preliminary hearing dates for Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2023 in Lester's case, according to ABC affiliate in Kansas City, KMBC. The hearing came one day after a Clay County judge agreed to partially seal the case in response to a protective order filed by Lester’s attorney, Steven Salmon. The judge ruled the discovery in the case will be available to prosecutors and the defense, but will not be shared with the public, writing in the ruling obtained by ABC News, that the “wide-ranging publicity” of the case in the national media has cast Lester “in a negative light” and has continued to “erode [his] ability [to] empanel a fair and impa...