KANSAS CITY, Mo. — David Jungerman, who was found guilty by a jury in the 2017 murder of Kansas City attorney Tom Pickert, died Monday morning while awaiting sentencing in the case.
Jungerman, 85, died at University Health. His attorney, Daniel Ross, said Jungerman’s cause of death is likely old age and dementia.
The Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Jungerman in Pickert’s death in 2018. But the COVID-19 pandemic played a role in slowing the court process.
Eventually, in September 2022, a jury found him guilty of murder.
Earlier this year, a Jackson County judge ruled Jungerman was “not competent” to be sentenced. The judge ordered a re-evaluation of Jungerman six months later, which would have been in September.
Jungerman had been in the custody of the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
Police found Pickert the morning of Oct. 25, 2017, on the front walk of his KCMO home.
Pickert was the attorney in a civil suit involving Jungerman. One of Pickert's clients won a $5.75 million jury verdict in the case.
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