GREENFIELD — Taaniel Herberger-Brown, the 42-year-old man from Greenfield who is accused of killing 35-year-old Christopher Hairston, of Pittsfield, in April, was held without bail after pleading not guilty to murder and eight other charges in Franklin County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon.

The defendant’s bail status will be appealed at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 7 at the request of defense attorney Nicholas Horgan.

Herberger-Brown was arrested on a murder charge at Albany International Airport on April 23 after reports of a foul odor brought police to his former apartment at 92 Chapman St. the day before. Upon arrival, Greenfield Police Officer Brent Griffin discovered a decomposing body, later identified as Hairston.

The results of Herberger-Brown’s grand jury indictment in July, which First Assistant Clerk Magistrate Benjamin Simanski read aloud before Judge Bertha Josephson on Wednesday afternoon, suggest Hairston died in February.

“The grand jurors for the commonwealth of Massachusetts, under oath, presented Taaniel Herberger-Brown, of Greenfield in the county of Franklin, on or about Feb. 29, 2024 at Greenfield in the county of Franklin, did assault and beat Christopher Hairston with the intent to murder him, and by such assault and beating, did kill and murder, the said Christopher Hairston,” Simanski read.

In addition to the murder charge, Herberger-Brown also pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to two counts of malicious destruction of property, three counts of assault and battery, two counts of kidnapping and a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm as an armed career criminal. According to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office, the assault and battery and kidnapping charges relate to a different victim and an incident that occurred inside Herberger-Brown’s apartment in February. The malicious destruction charges relate to damage that he allegedly caused inside his apartment and a laundry room in March and April.

While being investigated by Greenfield Police and Massachusetts State Police, Herberger-Brown allegedly told officers that a man, who he believed to be on drugs, had broken into his apartment and engaged in a physical altercation with him. Toward the end of the altercation, Herberger-Brown told police that the victim’s “heart stopped,” according to a police report written by State Trooper Blakely Pottinger.

The report also states that Herberger-Brown initially told officers that he was “in and out of hospitals” and “had not been at the apartment for several months.” The defendant, the police report states, told police he went to Albany International Airport with plans to visit his mother outside of the country.

A Northampton High School Class of 1999 graduate, four-year honor roll student and U.S. Navy veteran, Herberger-Brown has had earlier brushes with the law, including an incident involving a girlfriend in February 2008, when he was arrested on kidnapping and assault charges in Northampton, according a report in the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

In more recent years, Herberger-Brown also conducted charitable work in the community, once appearing in a 2021 Washington Post article for his volunteer work at Stone Soup Cafe in Greenfield.

Horgan declined to comment on his client’s case on Wednesday.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.