A former Potrero resident accused of fatally shooting a neighbor in the East County community last spring pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a murder charge.
Mike Walliser, 68, was ordered held on $500,000 bail.
Members of a fugitive task force took Walliser into custody last Thursday at his current home in Escondido.
Early on the evening of March 22, Walliser made an emergency call to report that he had just shot 50-year-old Ronald Drinkard during an argument, sheriff’s homicide Lt. Kenneth Nelson said.
Deputies arrived to find Drinkard dead on the front porch of Walliser’s home in the 23300 block of Coyote Holler Road, the lieutenant said.
Walliser told detectives he had opened fire due to threats of violence Drinkard had made against him, according to Nelson. Walliser was taken into custody that night, then released several days later pending further investigation in the case.
He was re-arrested last week because “additional evidence came up,” Nelson said, declining to elaborate.
A readiness conference was set for Feb. 26 and a preliminary hearing for Feb. 29 in El Cajon.
–City News Service
