Wrestling legend Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka pleaded not guilty Monday to murdering his girlfriend in 1983.
During an appearance at Lehigh County Court in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the former wrestler’s lawyer said that Snuka has early-onset dementia and post-concussion syndrome, the Associated Press reported.
The 72-year-old former WWE star also did not seem to know what day it was, or where the courthouse was located.
“He has his good days and his bad days,” Kirwan told the court. “This is a good day.”
Snuka was charged in September with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter from the death of his girlfriend, Nancy L. Argentino, in 1983. Argentino was 23 at the time of her death.
According to the Lehigh County District Attorney’s office, paramedics from the Allentown suburb of Whitehall Township responded to a call and arrived at a motel room to find a police officer, Snuka and two other wrestlers at the scene.
Argentino was lying on her back on the bed unconscious and showing indications of a head injury and shock. Emergency procedures were taken but she never regained consciousness and was later pronounced dead.
Snuka provided “various explanations” to medical personnel, “including that he and Argentino were arguing and that he struck her and that she fell and hit her head.”
An autopsy concluded that Argentino’s death was due to craniocerebral injuries, “the pattern of which is consistent with a moving head striking a stationary object.”
The autopsy report continued, “The multiplicity of and magnitude of the injuries may even be suggestive of ‘mate’ abuse.”
During the investigation into the case, a grand jury heard evidence that Snuka had assaulted Argentino in Syracuse, New York, four months before her death.