KCK resident runs for state seat, asks judge to drop shooting case against her
A former Wyandotte County political candidate, who is also facing charges for shooting her contractor in 2024, is again seeking public office.
Lisa Walker-Yeager, a Kansas City, Kansas, resident, filed to represent Wyandotte County in the Kansas Legislature’s 35th District on Monday. Walker-Yeager, who filed as a Republican, is running to unseat incumbent Democrat and KCK school board member Wanda Brownlee Paige. Walker-Yeager is scheduled to first face Republican Alex Sanchez in the August primary election.
Walker-Yeager previously ran for two local public offices in the 2025 election. Her filing for those seats, and now her run for the statehouse, have come as she faces criminal charges for the 2024 shooting of her contractor, Noble Bey.
She maintains that she’s not guilty in her case and immune on the basis of self-defense.
If elected, Walker-Yeager said she’d want to fight for a strong community benefits agreement between Wyandotte County, the state and the Kansas City Chiefs as the team readies to build a new stadium in Kansas City, Kansas. Part of that agreement, and other future legislation, she said, must result in property tax reductions for residents and helping out smaller businesses and the community at large.
Walker-Yeager, who said she’s the widow of a veteran, said that she also wants to stand up for every mother, widow and veteran to make sure they have the right to protect their family and assert their Second Amendment rights.
The outcome of Walker-Yeager’s criminal case could also affect her ability to hold a public office. People who are convicted of a felony aren’t allowed to hold office in Kansas until after serving their sentence, including probation and parole.
Shooting case
Walker-Yeager has maintained throughout the state’s case against her that she shot Bey because she believed her daughter Vern’e McClelland’s life was at risk. A dispute among Bey, Walker-Yeager and McClelland allegedly broke out one night in October 2024 over Bey’s frustration with what Walker-Yeager paid him for work on her house.
She has said that Bey became aggressive toward herself and her daughter that night, and at one point beat McClelland to the point where Walker-Yeager believed he would have killed her daughter had she not shot him. The state, on the other hand, has argued that Walker-Yeager did not act in self-defense given Bey wasn’t armed with a firearm. A Wyandotte County district court judge later denied Walker-Yeager’s request for self-defense immunity in the case.
Most recently in the case, Walker-Yeager has filed a motion to dismiss the charges against her.
That motion argues that the state cannot continue its case against her because they did not submit all discovery that they planned to use before her self-defense immunity hearing. Walker-Yeager is alleging that the court is illegally favoring the prosecution in the case by not sanctioning the state for not submitting that information earlier.
Walker-Yeager argues that she can’t have a fair trial without that discovery being submitted into the court record.
State prosecutors said that they have not intentionally withheld discovery in the case or kept Walker-Yeager from getting that evidence, and that they believe Walker-Yeager’s motion to dismiss is “unwarranted.”
It argues it has “responded timely and without any ill intent to delay or prevent the defendant from adequately defending herself against the allegations made by the state in this case,” according to court documents.
The state attributed the delays in Walker-Yeager’s case not to their unwillingness to present discovery, but rather, in part, due to Walker-Yeager’s choice to change her attorneys, noting that Walker-Yeager is on her sixth, court documents read.
“They have been, in part, due to the defendant’s choices regarding her legal reputation,” according to court records. “Also, the defendant has made multiple continuance requests, seemingly to allow each of these attorneys to become familiar with the case,” according to court documents.
Walker-Yeager also believes that her daughter’s safety is still at risk, she said. KCK municipal court records indicated that Bey, who also has been convicted of felony drug possession and distribution charges in Douglas County, has previously violated a protective order against him. Walker-Yeager said she’s seen him driving by her home as well. Walker-Yeager said she wants Bey charged for his actions on the night of the shooting, as well as for what she called intimidating a witness.
