Lawyer indicted in partner's death

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- A Kansas City lawyer was indicted for the second time on charges that he murdered his law partner.

Richard I. Buchli II, 51, was charged Thursday with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the May 5, 2000, death of Richard Armitage, 49.

Buchli had been charged earlier in Armitage's death, but the charges were dismissed last April because prosecutors were not ready to go to trial.

Armitage, who specialized in health and hospital-related law, was nationally known for his expertise in representing organ procurement and transplantation agencies.

In a probable cause statement, Buchli told police he left the office for lunch at 1:50 p.m. on the day of the murder. Building surveillance video showed him walking out at 2:10 p.m. He returned to the building at 2:40 and waited for the secretary. The two of them went back to the office together and found Armitage bleeding.