It’s a new day and I’ve got more new information about David Jungerman, whom Kansas City police suspect — but aren’t saying so publicly — in the Wednesday, Oct. 25, murder of lawyer Thomas Pickert.
At the same time the 79-year-old Jungerman is facing foreclosure on his property to satisfy a multi-million-dollar civil judgment, he is also fighting a criminal charge stemming from allegedly threatening a tenant of his in June 2016.
As nearly I can tell from entries in case.net, which provides public access to Missouri court records, Jungerman is charged with misdemeanor harassment. Misdemeanors carry a penalty of up to a year in jail.
A most interesting development took place in that case on Tuesday of this week, when the Kansas City attorney who had been representing Jungerman, Brian Lee Palmer, was allowed to withdraw.
Even more interesting, Palmer had entered his appearance on behalf of Jungerman only 13 days earlier, on Oct. 18.
One more pertinent fact: On Oct. 25, the day Pickert was shot at close range while sitting on his front porch in Brookside, Palmer filed a motion with the court to take the deposition of a witness.
Here’s that time line:
:: Oct. 18, Palmer enters his appearance in the harassment case
:: Oct. 25, Pickert is shot and killed about 8:07 a.m.
:: Oct. 25, Palmer files a motion to depose a witness in the harassment case
:: Oct. 30, Palmer asks to be released from the case
:: Oct. 31, Palmer is allowed to withdraw
What does that look like to you?
My take is Palmer got involved with Jungerman innocently enough, but after the complexion of things changed dramatically in a matter of days…out the door he went.
Brian Lee Palmer
I was fortunate enough to have a brief chat with Palmer after he picked up the phone this evening in his Crown Center office. After I stated the reason for my call — wanting to know why he up and left as Jungerman’s attorney — he replied:
“Thank you for your call, and I have no comment on anything related to that. And good luck with your article.”
(Very gracious of him, I thought, to wish me luck — don’t get that too often — but it was completely unnecessary.)
…I alluded to the harassment case in yesterday’s post, having received from a friend last week a “probable cause” statement pertaining to an incident that occurred in a village not far from Nevada, MO, in Vernon County, about 100 miles south of Kansas City.
I didn’t have time to follow up on that case yesterday, but I began sorting through it late this afternoon on case.net.
Jungerman, who is listed in whitepages.com as living in Raytown, owns or owned a rental home in Vernon County. On June, 28, 2016, the probable cause statement says, Jungerman kicked in the door of the home and confronted the tenant, demanding to know, “When are you getting out of here you mother fucker?”
The tenant said Jungerman had a handgun in his waistband, and a witness said Jungerman placed his hand on the gun while “yelling and cussing” at the tenant.
A sheriff’s deputy responding to a 9-1-1 call from a witness spoke with Jungerman outside the house. The deputy said he told Jungerman that in order to remove the tenant “he had to go through the legal eviction process.” The deputy also asked Jungerman if he had a firearm, and Jungerman said he had one in the center console of his car.
The deputy then retrieved a .40 caliber Glock, semi-automatic handgun from the console. “There was (stet) a total of 10 hollow point rounds in the Glock,” the deputy wrote in the probably cause statement.
Hollow points. Wikipedia describes a hollow-point bullet as one having “a pit or hollowed-out shape in its tip often intended to cause the bullet to expand upon entering a target.”
…The probable cause statement alleges Jungerman committed two felonies — burglary and armed criminal action — and one misdemeanor — harassment– and case.net indicates it was originally filed as a felony case. Somewhere along the line, however, it appears to have been reduced to a misdemeanor.
The case was originally assigned to a judge in Vernon County but was transferred, for a reason not explained in case.net, to Barton County, immediately south of Vernon County. (The Barton County seat is Lamar, best known, perhaps, as the birthplace of President Harry S. Truman.)
At first, Jungerman didn’t have an attorney and was representing himself. In September 2016, a Joplin attorney, William Fleischaker, entered his appearance on behalf of Jungerman. Fleischaker was the attorney of record until last April, when he withdrew. Six months later, Palmer entered his appearance.
**
The last case.net entry was made Tuesday, the day Brian Palmer exited. The judge in the case, David R. Munton, said this:
“If defendant does hire counsel by 11/16/2017, then court will probably continue the trial (which is scheduled to start the last week of November). If not, it will confirm to the court that defendant is not serious about wanting counsel and is trying to manipulate the court to get his court date continued.”
In any event, the judge noted, the case is on hold until at least Nov. 16.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
One question that keeps bothering me: Is his motive for murder really about the foreclosure of property? Why couldn’t he just have appealed and held everything up in the courts that way? I realize that he is pure evil and nuts, but have also never heard of property being seized this fast after a judgement.
I went back to case.net and was able to sort this out a bit…
The damage case in which Jungerman shot at least one homeless man was tried before a Jackson County Circuit Court jury from July 24 to July 27. the jury returned a unanimous verdict on July 28. Judge Joel Fahnestock entered judgment — $750,000 in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages — on Aug. 3.
Jungerman’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial on Sept. 1. An order denying Jungerman’s new-trial motion was entered Sept. 20. On Sept. 22, Jungerman’s attorneys filed a notice of appeal .
Even though the case is under appeal, the court began the process of seizing two pieces of property Jungerman owns. (One is at 6000 Elm Street, Raytown, which appears to be a vacant lot; the other is a large building he owns at 123 S. Belmont Blvd. in northeast Kansas City.)
So-called levy executions, or garnishments, were filed Oct. 15, and Jungerman’s attorneys were notified of the action on Oct. 24, the day before Pickert was murdered.
On Oct. 26, the judge ordered juror records closed. On Oct. 31, one of Jungerman’s four listed attorneys, Ashlyn Lewis, withdrew her representation.
I went back to case.net and was able to sort this out a bit…
The damage case in which Jungerman shot at least one homeless man was tried before a Jackson County Circuit Court jury from July 24 to July 27. the jury returned a unanimous verdict on July 28. Judge Joel Fahnestock entered judgment — $750,000 in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages — on Aug. 3.
Jungerman’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial on Sept. 1. An order denying Jungerman’s new-trial motion was entered Sept. 20. On Sept. 22, Jungerman’s attorneys filed a notice of appeal.
Notwithstanding the appeal, the court began the process of seizing two pieces of property Jungerman owns. (One is at 6000 Elm Street, Raytown, which appears to be a vacant lot; the other is a large building he owns at 123 S. Belmont Blvd. in northeast Kansas City.)
So-called levy executions, or garnishments, were filed Oct. 15, and Jungerman’s attorneys were notified of the action on Oct. 24, the day before Pickert was murdered.
On Oct. 26, the judge ordered juror records closed. On Oct. 31, one of Jungerman’s four listed attorneys, Ashlyn Lewis, withdrew her representation.
Thanks for providing all this interesting detail, Jim. Media sources are certainly bereft of it.
This guy is quite the pip — and, a very scary character. As for Patty’s intuition, had she known all this would probably have had a different sense; he’s too arrogant to kill himself. Who knows, though — if he feels the noose starting to tighten he may take the coward’s way out.
He’s probably waiting to be interviewed by his hero _ and fellow scumbag_ Sean Hannity who will tout him as a patriot who stood his ground.
I know I started it with the “right-wing, gun-totin'” stuff, but I hate to see you take it back in that direction, Mike…I’m now focusing on this guy’s violent proclivities and other facets of his life. More to come…
I see your point, Fitz. But I do fear that he will try to portray himself as a “stand your ground” Cliven Bundy type. Great job with your reporting.
Probably the main reason Palmer bailed on him, if he’s a solo practitioner, is that he may have foreseen himself becoming entangled in Jungerman’s felony cases and may not have the resources to handle cases of that nature.
Hollow point bullets are pretty standard issue for CCH use.The main reason is that they don’t penetrate as far and hence the likelihood of going through target #1 and hitting an innocent bystander is reduced.
There are two old sayings that go “every bullet has an attorney attached to it” and “every bullet hits something”. For civilians, you may have a legitimate reason to shoot target #1, but if it goes through target #1 and hits an innocent bystander you may be held both civilly and criminally liable for the damage to the innocent bystander. That may also be the reason why civilians actually have a better record for accuracy than law enforcement in combat situations. They usually engage in the spray and pray technique of throwing as much lead down range as possible and are rarely held accountable for collateral damage.
Palmer a member of a firm that does the following types of law:
ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION / MEDIATION
BANKRUPTCY & CREDITORS RIGHTS
COMMERCIAL / BUSINESS LITIGATION
COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS & CORPORATE COUNSEL
CONSTRUCTION / SURETY
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS / ERISA
ESTATE PLANNING / PROBATE
INSURANCE COVERAGE / INSURANCE DEFENSE
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY
REAL ESTATE
TAXATION
I am sure he was only there to get an appeal started and ran scared when the murder was linked to Jungerman who may have been an existing client. Other atty’s have done the same in other matters within the last 15 days.
You are so wrong it is almost funny. Did you read something that implied safety? Yes they are safer because they kill better.
“Hollow point bullets are pretty standard issue for CCH use.The main reason is that they don’t penetrate as far and hence the likelihood of going through target #1 and hitting an innocent bystander is reduced.
There are two old sayings that go “every bullet has an attorney attached to it” and “every bullet hits something”. For civilians, you may have a legitimate reason to shoot target #1, but if it goes through target #1 and hits an innocent bystander you may be held both civilly and criminally liable for the damage to the innocent bystander. That may also be the reason why civilians actually have a better record for accuracy than law enforcement in combat situations. They usually engage in the spray and pray technique of throwing as much lead down range as possible and are rarely held accountable for collateral damage.”
WRONG Hollowpoint bullets are designed to take down and kill over and above other bullets and are outlawed by Hague Convention.
“As the hollowpoint bullet opens up, it makes a larger hole than a roundnose bullet of the same caliber would do. Hollowpoints that fragment produce extra wound channels to cause rapid blood loss. That’s where we get the idea that hollowpoints are more dangerous; each individual bullet does indeed create more damage than an individual roundnose bullet does. However, because each individual shot does more damage, hollowpoints are the safest option for use in self defense. How can this be? Three ways:
1. Because each bullet does more damage, you can stop the attacker more quickly. When the attacker stops quickly, you are less likely to be injured. So hollowpoint bullets are safer for you.
2. Because each bullet does more damage, you will probably need to shoot fewer times to stop the attack. Leaving fewer holes in the attacker makes it more likely that the attacker will survive to go to trial. So hollowpoint bullets are actually safer for the bad guy.
3. The mushrooming or fragmenting activity of the bullet “puts the brakes on” inside the attacker’s body. That creates more damage. But it also makes the bullet far less likely to go through the attacker to strike a bystander or the loved ones you are trying to protect. Because of their shape, hollowpoint bullets that miss their intended target are also less likely to ricochet and hit innocent others. So hollowpoint bullets are safer for bystanders.”
Joe — Please try to limit your comments to 200 words…Extremely lengthy comments often have the effect of chilling discussion.