A man charged with murder after police say called them and told them he choked his girlfriend to death had his first appearance in a Little Rock district court Wednesday.
Standing in front of the judge via video stream, Derrick Jermaine Mason, 37, pleaded innocent to first-degree murder and had bond set at $75,000.
The judge waived a hearing of the facts in the case, and Mason did not speak. A public defender said Mason is unemployed and looking for work.
Mason has past criminal convictions, including one for carrying a weapon in 2013, according to records read in court.
Police say Mason contacted them Tuesday to surrender in the killing of his girlfriend, Jessica Ryan Berliew.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported that Mason told police he choked Berliew after an argument when she got home from work.