KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Jackson County judge determined an 85-year-old man needs mental health treatment before he can be sentenced for murder.

A jury found David Jungerman guilty in September of first-degree murder for the death of Tom Pickert. Pickert was gunned down in the yard of his Brookside home in 2017.

Prosecutors said Jungerman killed Pickert after losing a civil lawsuit. Pickert represented a man who won a $6 million judgement against Jungerman.

Jungerman was scheduled to be sentenced for the crime in November, but that sentencing has been delayed.

A Jackson County judge ruled Friday that Jungerman is not competent to be sentenced for the crime. The judge ordered Jungerman be committed to a state mental health facility for six months to receive treatment. Jungerman will be reevaluated after six months.

Jungerman’s attorney, Dan Ross, said a report from the Missouri Department of Mental Health found that he has diminished mental capacity.

“What the doctors are saying in this particular case from the report I read, this is really an issue of accelerated brain atrophy and not just your typical senility that’s associated with being somebody of his age, but this is an accelerated condition that has been identified on CAT scans and so his brain is dying at an accelerated rate and I guess the significant point is there’s no recovery from that.”

During the trial, the judge rejected lawyers’ arguments that Jungerman’s health prevented him from continuing the trial. He walked in as his trial began and then had to be wheeled in later — even shaken awake at times — as the arguments on his mental fitness continued.

The judge, at that time, said he was skeptical of the motives.

The 85-year-old has been housed at the Jackson County Jail since his conviction last year.