Ralph Yarl, Justin King cases in Missouri tied together by castle doctrine, race

By Deion Broxton

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    ST. LOUIS, Missouri (KMOV) — The shooting of Ralph Yarl in Kansas City is similar to the case involving Justin King in Bourbon, Missouri.

On April 13, Yarl, a 16-year-old African American teenager, was shot and wounded by Andrew Lester, an 84-year-old white man, after ringing the doorbell to Lester’s house in Kansas City, Missouri. Yarl was attempting to pick up his twin brothers and ended up at the wrong address, according to family members.

In the fall of 2021, King, a 28-year-old African-American, was shot by his white neighbor in Crawford County, roughly an hour southwest of St. Louis.

County officials held a coroner’s inquest in January 2022. A jury of six Crawford County residents decided King’s neighbor was justified in the deadly shooting in November 2021 after hearing hours of evidence and testimony in Steelville.

The coroner didn’t allow any video or audio to be recorded, even though the county prosecutor, David Smith, confirmed to News 4 the inquest was a public meeting and despite state law stating a public body shall allow for audio and/or video recording during an open meeting.

The King family lawyer, Nimrod Chapel, told News 4 at the time that Crawford County officials told him no written, audio or video transcription of the meeting existed. Missouri state law states a record of open and closed meetings must be retained by a government body.

County officials later released all video, audio and documents regarding the case to News 4. News 4 is not identifying the shooter because he has never been charged with a crime.

“He kept shouldering the door. Shouldering the f***ing door,” the man said in Bourbon police dash cam footage about Justin King shortly after the shooting in November 2021. “Trying to knock the door, and I’m like ‘Justin, what is it? What is wrong?’ He bulldogged me on the porch, and I hit the ground.”

The man who shot and killed King admitted to giving King marijuana before the deadly encounter.

“If someone was beating at my door, I wouldn’t let him in,” John King, Justin King’s father, told News 4 Tuesday. “He, obviously, let Justin in. He was just in Justin’s home a few minutes prior. To me, it’s murder. I don’t see how he could have gotten shot three times on the inside of his house and then made it outside. It’s too many cases of white men killing innocent Black people because of castle doctrine.”

Surveillance footage from inside Justin’s home showed Justin with the shooter. Justin’s outside surveillance video showed Justin charging into the shooter’s home. The quality of the isn’t good enough to depict whether Justin was shot in or outside the home of his neighbor.

Crawford County prosecutors cited the castle doctrine in this case. The Missouri law that allows a person to defend themselves in their home, dwelling or vehicle. Missouri’s castle doctrine will likely be a factor in the case involving Yarl and his alleged shooter, Lester.

St. Louis-area attorney TJ Matthes told News 4 that the circumstances leading to force in or outside a shooter’s home plays a big role in court.

Lester is scheduled to appear in court in June.

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