Judge holds off on Walker-Yeager self- defense ruling; findings due by Sept. 12
During a Thursday afternoon hearing, a Wyandotte County district judge did not rule on whether political candidate Lisa Walker-Yeager, who shot a man last fall, qualifies for self-defense immunity.
After attorneys questioned Walker-Yeager and her daughter, Verné McClelland, for about two hours, Judge Michael A. Russell decided the defense and state prosecutors must submit their findings, facts and conclusions to the court by Sept. 12.
After those statements are filed, Russell said he’d schedule a hearing and make his ruling from the bench.
Walker-Yeager, who is running for two local government positions, faces charges of aggravated battery by knowingly causing harm or bodily disfigurement and unlawful discharge of a firearm in city limits in connection with the Oct. 12, 2024 shooting.
She’s asking Russell to grant her immunity on the basis of self-defense and maintains that had she not shot contractor Noble Bey that evening, he would have killed her daughter.
The state, meanwhile, is arguing the shooting wasn’t self-defense, given that Bey wasn’t armed, according to court records. The court on July 25 denied a motion to dismiss the case after hearing arguments from the involved parties, records show.
Questioning, evidence
The court heard testimony from Walker-Yeager and McClelland during Thursday’s hearing.
Throughout questioning, the mother and daughter each said Bey became aggressive with them outside their Kansas City, Kansas, home because he felt Walker-Yeager had shortchanged him by $60 for insulation work he did on the house. Walker-Yeager said the work had not been completed as initially agreed upon.
That aggression, Walker-Yeager and her daughter said, escalated to Bey pulling McClelland out of her vehicle by her hair and hitting her repeatedly. McClelland at one point said Bey attempted to choke her.
“I really thought I was going to die if my mom didn’t save me,” McClelland said.
Video evidence shown during the hearing reflected Bey’s frustration over the $350 check Walker-Yeager had written him that evening; he had been expecting $410, he said in the video. The video, recorded by McClelland, cut off before he allegedly pulled her from the vehicle.
Russell called a brief break when Walker-Yeager broke down in tears during her daughter’s testimony.
The court also showed photos of the scene to offer an understanding of where Bey, Walker-Yeager and McClelland were located throughout the incident. Antwone Floyd, Walker-Yeager’s attorney, also played McClelland’s call to 911 reporting the attack.
In her testimony, Walker-Yeager described her panic when she, staying in her vehicle, said she heard the sound of her daughter screaming in distress. She said Bey had used threatening language toward them and that she thought he was trying to kill McClelland.
Both Walker-Yeager and McClelland testified that they saw Bey reach into his vehicle and that they believed he was searching for a weapon.
“That’s when I grabbed my gun and took it out,” she said, adding she was convinced he planned to harm them.
Russell said the state is now in possession of body camera footage from the incident and that if parties wanted to reopen the hearing, they’d have to file a motion.
Walker-Yeager, who also leads the National Historic Soul Jazz Blues Walker Foundation and is a local neighborhood association vice president, earlier this month passed through the primary election for two races.
She wants to hold a seat on the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK’s board, representing District 1, as well as obtain an at-large seat on the Board of Public Utilities.
If convicted of a felony, she would not be able to hold public office.
