KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ David Jungerman, the 80-year-old man accused of killing Kansas City attorney Tom Pickert, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court.
Jungerman entered the plea as he was arraigned on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in last fall's shooting.
Jungerman, a multimillionaire farmer and baby furniture maker, appeared via video for the 11 a.m. arraignment. He is being held without bond in Jackson County jail.
Jackson County prosecutors announced Wednesday they had charged Jungerman after a police investigation that spanned months and at times appeared to have grown cold. Kansas City police in November said Jungerman was not a suspect.
Pickert was fatally shot in broad daylight on the morning of Oct. 25 in front of his home, just after walking his two sons to school.
Police soon learned that Pickert, a personal injury lawyer, had recently won a $5.75 million judgment against Jungerman in a civil lawsuit over Jungerman's shooting of a man at a warehouse Jungerman owns in Northeast Kansas City.
Jungerman has acknowledged shooting four men at that building in two separate incidents in 2012. In both cases, Jungerman said the men were stealing copper and he acted in self-defense.
Jungerman is also facing charges in a March 8 incident in which he is accused of shooting a man he suspected of stealing metal from his building.
