LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Former Kentucky lawmaker Steve Nunn pleaded not guilty Thursday to a murder charge stemming from the shooting death of his ex-fiancee outside her home.

Nunn, heir to one of Kentucky's most famous political names, looked glum while appearing via video hookup from jail during his arraignment in Fayette County Circuit Court.

Nunn was indicted on the murder charge earlier this month, nearly two months after his arrest in the Sept. 11 slaying of Amanda Ross outside her Lexington home.

Friends of Ross' family wore badges Thursday showing a picture of the 29-year-old Ross and the word "remember" in what has become a customary vigil at hearings in the case. Some of them stood at the side of the courtroom because all the seats were occupied.

Wearing a drab jailhouse jumpsuit and sporting a beard, the one-time gubernatorial aspirant spoke only once, replying "Yes, ma'am," when Judge Kim Bunnell asked if he was Steve Nunn.

His attorney, Warren Scoville, entered the not guilty plea on his behalf to the murder charge and a charge of violating an emergency protective order.

Bunnell scheduled a status conference in the case for Jan. 15.

Scoville left without speaking to reporters after the brief hearing.

Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson would not say whether he would seek the death penalty in the case but told reporters, "We will be filing appropriate notices at some point."

Larson said the evidence is "pretty voluminous," and said it will take the defense "some time" to go through the material.

Melanie Smith, among the Ross family friends at the hearing, said she would consider the death penalty a "fair judgment" if Nunn is convicted of murder.

Smith said the word "remember" on the badges was the title of a poem Amanda Ross wrote.

"She was very artistic and creative and just a delightful person," Smith said.

Nunn pleaded not guilty earlier this week in Hart County to six counts of wanton endangerment for allegedly brandishing a firearm when he was approached by police at a cemetery hours after Ross was gunned down.

When police arrived at the graveyard in south-central Kentucky, they found Nunn sitting against a headstone where his parents are buried. Nunn allegedly fired a shot after police saw him, then threw down the gun. Nunn was bleeding from self-inflicted wrist wounds.

Nunn's father, Louie Nunn, was a former Kentucky governor.

Steve Nunn made a name for himself in Kentucky politics, spending some 15 years in the state legislature and making an unsuccessful run for governor in 2003. He failed to win re-election to the state House in 2006.

Nunn had been serving as deputy secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, but was put on administrative leave in February and resigned in March after he was charged with domestic violence against Ross, with whom he had lived for several months. Under the protective order obtained by Ross, Nunn also was prohibited from possessing firearms.

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