MARQUETTE - Ishpeming resident Jacques Earl Carpenter pleaded not guilty through closed circuit television Monday from Marquette County Jail in 96th District Court on several charges stemming from a shooting death that took place Friday in Ishpeming.
Carpenter, 52, is the alleged shooter in the incident that left another Ishpeming man, 29-year-old David Scott Meyer Jr., dead with a gunshot wound to the head.
Meyer's official cause of death will be determined after an autopsy, slated to take place today at Marquette General Hospital, is conducted.
Carpenter is being held in Marquette County Jail without bond on one count of homicide - open murder, a felony punishable by up to life in prison. He is also being held on a $100,000 cash or surety bond on each of the following charges: one count of unlawful imprisonment, a 15-year felony; one count of assault with a dangerous weapon, a four-year felony; and one count of weapons - felony firearm, a two-year felony.
The unlawful imprisonment and assault charges stem from actions Carpenter allegedly took against another man, Justin Saari.
Carpenter is scheduled to appear in court again at 3:45 p.m. June 21 for a preliminary examination.
According to Ishpeming Police Chief Dan Willey, Carpenter and Meyer were renting rooms inside the home at 409 N. Second St. where the shooting occurred.
The men are believed to have been having an argument prior to the shooting, though no details on what the disagreement was about are being released.
According to police, a 31-year-old Ishpeming man witnessed the shooting and first alerted the Ishpeming Police Department to the incident shortly before 1 p.m. Friday.
Police could not confirm whether Saari was the eyewitness.
Willey said the eyewitness told police Carpenter had allegedly held him at gunpoint in the home for about 10 minutes after the shooting, warning him not to go to police.
He eventually escaped the home and led police back to the residence, where they found Meyer lying on the living room floor, dead.
Carpenter was placed under arrest at the scene without incident.
A 40-caliber handgun was retrieved from the residence. Willey declined to comment on who the gun was registered to.
The Ishpeming Police were assisted on the scene by the Marquette County Sheriff's Department, Michigan State Police from the Negaunee Post, the Michigan State Police Crime Lab, the Ishpeming Township Police and the Negaunee Police Department.
The investigation into Meyer's death is ongoing.