JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

With recent developments, the number of pending criminal charges against David Jungerman has now thinned to the point that the only substantive case Missouri prosecutors have against him is the Thomas Pickert murder case.

At one time, it appeared the state had three strong felony cases against him:

— An attempted burglary in Nevada

— Shooting at or near a man he believed to have stolen pipe from him

— The Pickert case

Of course, the Pickert case is the big one, and all indications are that KCPD detectives presented Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker with an iron-clad case. Detectives gave Jungerman — who thinks he’s smart but is actually an idiot — a false sense of security by saying he wasn’t a suspect. Left to his own devices, Jungerman placed a noose around his neck by running his mouth, including into a running audio recorder.

Nevertheless, it’s disturbing to see the other two criminal cases against him slipping away.

First, in the spring, came the dismissal of the attempted burglary case. The Vernon County prosecutor gave no public reason for dismissing the case, but it dragged on for two years and was getting stale.

Then, last week the Jackson County prosecutor’s office dismissed two of three felony counts against Jungerman in connection with his March 8 confrontation of two people he believed had stolen pipe from his northeast Kansas City business. Jungerman chased the two in his truck and caught up with them at a metal recycling facility, where he pointed a handgun at both people — a man and a woman — and fired what he called a warning shot in the vicinity of the man.

The ironic part of that case is that Jungerman was on the phone with 911, reporting the theft and the confrontation, as it was unfolding…Like I said, he fancies himself smart.

As it turned out, the man Jungerman confronted is a longtime, petty thief and probably had stolen the pipe. He — “the victim” — is facing charges unrelated to the Jungerman case, and, as I understand it, the prosecutor’s office was unwilling to offer him any concessions in return for his prospective testimony against Jungerman.

Faced with an uncooperative lead witness, the prosecutor’s office dismissed two of the three felony charges against Jungerman, leaving just one felony charge of exhibiting a weapon and a misdemeanor assault charge.

As a result, where Jungerman once faced the prospect of up to 22 years in prison in that case, he now faces only two to four years on the remaining felony charge. In addition, the case, which had been scheduled to go to trial today, has been continued to next April.

…The way the stolen-pipe case is developing — maybe I should say collapsing — I fear it will ultimately go the way of the Nevada, MO, case.

The stolen-pipe case won’t really matter, provided that the murder case doesn’t start taking on water. Jungerman is still being held without bond, and there’s no prospect of him getting out on bond, as far as I can tell. (He’s worth up to $33 million, but all his millions and all his farm land are not helping him a bit now.)

Despite the fact that the murder case has shown no signs of cracking, I felt a lot better when Jungerman was boxed in by what appeared to be three strong felony cases. Now it’s down to one major felony case, and, as the Nevada and stolen-pipe cases have shown, you never know what’s going to happen with criminal cases.

All we can do — “we” who want to see justice served — is keep our fingers crossed that the state’s case will hold up and that Jungerman will be convicted of gunning down an innocent man in his front yard last October after walking his two young sons to school.

This is one “wise guy” who can never again be out on the streets.