KANSAS CITY, Mo — Andrew Lester's guilty plea took less than 30 minutes in a Clay County courtroom last Friday.
The case dominated nearly two years of Ralph Yarl and his family's lives.
Ralph recovered from the gunshot wound he suffered when Lester opened his front door and shot Yarl.
Yarl finished his senior year at Staley High School.
The honors student, bass clarinet player, and aspiring engineer is months away from completing his freshman year of college at Texas A&M University.
The family wants to move on, but even with Lester's guilty plea, they know the case is not over.
"The limelight on it might be dimming, but I don’t really see it coming to a close," Cleo Nagbe, his mother said Monday. "He (Ralph) doesn’t like that you can Google him and see him in that sense. He wants to be seen for his music, he wants to be seen for what he can do in the STEM world, and what he can do to help others. But when you Google him you see '86-year-old man shoots Black teenager' and that’s the first thing you will see. That has tainted him so much and I think it will take decades to go away."
As Ralph's mother sat with her arm around him in court, Nagbe said they were aware of the plea but didn't know what to expect.
"I was waiting to see what the next game would be," she said."Honestly, I was like 'Okay, is something else going to happen here?"'
April will mark two years since Ralph survived being shot.
KSHB 41 has done multiple interviews with Ralph's aunt and mother.
"Two years of our life has been stolen and that’s two years we will never get back," Nagbe said. "I just hope that we can find the time to rise from those ashes and grow back into ourselves what we should have been."
Ralph may have been more emotionally prepared for the verdict than some of his family members.
"Well, Ralph is 18 now, so he prepares us," his mother said.
Nagbe watched Ralph balance case developments with his school load.
"I wish I had that resiliency, that strength he had with all the work that he’s doing," she said.
They accepted the plea deal, with Ralph's voice in their decision-making, so they could try to move forward.
"How many times can he drop everything he's doing at school and fly down here?" Nagbe said. "He's in a STEM program. It takes a lot. How many times can he do online classes on the plane?"
Lester's guilty plea means he could spend one day to seven years in prison, ordered to pay up to a $10,000 fine or a combination of a fine and prison time.
The Clay County Prosecutor's Office is planning to request a five-year sentence.
Beyond a few interviews, Ralph avoided the spotlight as much as possible.
He has his mother to thank for that.
She also tried her best to protect her other children from the publicity of the shooting.
"For my other kids, you know, I just wish that after some of the limelight dies off of this, they can have the time to grow into their own and I can have the time to devote to them as a mother should and not spend all the time fighting and pouring into this."
Lester's sentencing is scheduled for March 7.
Long after the judge decides on a sentence, Nagbe believes this case will stick with them.
However, Ralph wants to decide what's permanent.
"He wants to be seen for his music," she said. "He wants to be seen for what he can do in the STEM world and what he can do helping others but when you Google him you see '86-year-old man shoots Black teenager' and that's the first thing you will see. That has tainted him so much and I think it will take decades to go away."
Nagbe is preparing a victim impact statement to share during sentencing.
She plans to ask the judge not to focus on any sentiments about Lester's age.
"This is not about Ralph," she said. "Ralph is definitely moving on with his life. This is about other teenagers and other people...We live in the delivery world right now. There will be mailmen, and people delivering food, delivering packages. This judge have a situation now where he can set the bar for the future."
KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including Overland Park, Prairie Village and Leawood. Share your story idea with Alyssa.