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

I was glad to see that the $5.75 million judgment against David Jungerman in last year’s civil case was upheld by the Missouri Court of Appeals.

That loss, of course, planted the seeds for the murder of Kansas City lawyer Thomas Pickert, who represented the plaintiff in the civil case.

Like everyone else, I sure wish the Jungerman-Pickert standoff would have ended with the resolution of that case. Jungerman, a landowner and businessman who’s worth as much as $33 million, could easily have afforded the monetary loss, and everybody could have gone on about their business.

But that judgment seemed to permanently flip the toggle switch Jungerman had been fooling with for decades — switching between legal and illegal, between unpredictable and outright crazy behavior.

So now we’re gearing up for one or two felony trials — one for the murder of Pickert, the other for unlawfully brandishing a handgun at a man who had stolen some pipe from Jungerman’s business in northeast Kansas City.

As I’ve said, the murder case looks solid, but the handgun case has been taking on a lot of water.

Recently, I gained additional insight into that case when I went to the courthouse and checked case filings. Here’s the scoop…

The main victim in the stolen-pipe case is a convicted felon who also has had two tampering-with-a-motor-vehicle charges (felonies) pending against him for several years.

Danny E. Scott, 47, is a small-time crook with a propensity for stealing cars. He was convicted of property damage, a low-level felony, in 2002, as well as a misdemeanor assault charge, and for those crimes he was sentenced to concurrent terms of a year in prison and a year in the county jail.

In 2013, he was charged with tampering with a motor vehicle after breaking the steering column of a 1995 blue Jeep Cherokee, hot-wiring it and taking off with it.

Less than a year later, before that case was resolved and while out on bond or his own recognizance, he was charged with another count of tampering after stealing a 1989 Crown Vic. He was also charged with a misdemeanor of resisting arrest — fleeing from officers after they closed in on him.

Those two cases have bounced around in Jackson County Circuit Court the last four years, without resolution and with Scott free on $5,000 bond.

And that’s why Danny Scott was free on Thursday, March 8, when he headed to a metal recycling center with pipe he apparently had stolen from Jungerman.

If he had known who he was dealing with he probably would have passed on the pipe, but, you know, opportunity presented itself and he acted.

Jungerman chased Scott and a woman he was with and confronted them at the recycling center, gun in hand.

During the encounter, Jungerman was on the phone with the 9-1-1- police call center. The incident was recorded. Here’s an excerpt…

Jungerman: “Now, buddy, hold it right where you’re at, motherfucker.”

A gunshot is heard.

Scott: “Motherfucker, what’s your problem?”

Jungerman: “You stole my fucking pipe.”

Scott: “I didn’t. Get that thing away from me. I didn’t steal shit from you, buddy…Get away from me with that fucking thing…What are you going to do, shoot me?”

Jungerman: “You’re fucking A I’m going to shoot you.”

…Well, Scott was luckier than Thomas Pickert and four other men Jungerman shot in recent years (none of the other four died), because Jungerman told police the round he discharged was just a warning shot.

Initially, prosecutors charged Jungerman (who had not been charged with Pickert’s murder yet) with two felony counts of unlawful use of a weapon, a felony count of armed criminal action and a misdemeanor assault charge.

On paper, the case looked clean and clear. But it wasn’t. Lauren Whiston, the assistant prosecutor who also has the murder case, offered Scott immunity from theft charges (regarding the pipe), if Scott would agree to testify against Jungerman.

Scott said that wasn’t good enough. What he wanted was favorable consideration on the two outstanding tampering charges that had been hanging over him the last four years. With his previous felony conviction, a second felony conviction could put him behind bars for a long time.

Whiston wouldn’t go for that, and the two sides were at a standoff.

Stuck with an uncooperative witness, Whiston dismissed the two most serious charges against Jungerman — armed criminal action and the more serious of the two unlawful-use-of-weapon charges. That left a weapons charge for which Jungerman could be sentenced to two to four years in prison and a misdemeanor assault charge.

…It’s hard to predict what’s going to happen with this case. I suppose Whiston could get a conviction just with the 9-1-1- recording and video from the recycling center, but it seems problematic. In addition to the problem with Scott, I understand that Scott’s female companion has not been certified as a witness. I don’t know why. But in any event, without testimony from either of the two victims, a conviction could be out of reach.

Meanwhile, the tampering cases against Danny Scott continue to grow moss. Last week, a pre-trial conference was held, and a trial date was set for next May.

That’s just a little more than nine months out, so be sure to get your tickets well in advance, and, oh, be ready for a continuance. I wouldn’t bet a dollar the case will go to trial then.

Let’s hope the murder case is as strong as it appears.