Former American Idol contestant Caleb Flynn held back tears during his first court appearance on murder charges, appearing remotely before a judge at Miami County Municipal Court on Friday. His lawyer entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

The New York Post reported that Flynn was arrested on Feb. 19 after authorities said he shot and killed his wife, Ashley, in their Ohio home. She was found with at least one gunshot wound to the head. Their two daughters were reportedly asleep in the house at the time.

Investigators say two spent shells were found on the floor. More damning still, cops allege Flynn tried to stage the killing as a home invasion burglary gone wrong.

A plea for freedom, a $2 million wall

Flynn addressed the judge during the hearing, telling the court he is "not a risk" and expressing a desire to "take care of his daughters," according to TMZ. The emotional appeal did not move the court to leniency. Flynn is being held on a $2 million bond.

His attorney requested a preliminary hearing to be scheduled for later this month. Until then, Flynn remains behind bars while the case against him takes shape.

The not guilty plea is standard procedure, but the allegations paint a grim picture. A fatal shooting is one thing. An alleged attempt to disguise it as a break-in is another entirely.

If prosecutors can demonstrate that Flynn staged the scene, the case moves well beyond any claim of accident or self-defense into the territory of premeditation and cover-up.

Two spent shells. At least one gunshot wound to the head. A wife dead in her own home while her children slept down the hall. And then, according to authorities, an effort to make it all look like someone else did it.

That sequence, if proven, tells a story that no courtroom performance can easily undo.

Fame is not a shield

Flynn's connection to American Idol will guarantee this case gets attention it might not otherwise receive.

Celebrity, even the minor variety, has a way of warping public proceedings. Cameras arrive. Sympathy flows in strange directions. The accused becomes a character in a story rather than a defendant in a murder case.

None of that changes what happened in that Ohio home on Feb. 19. A woman is dead. Two girls no longer have their mother. The court will sort out the rest, but the facts as alleged by authorities are already devastating.

Ashley Flynn deserves to be more than a footnote in someone else's headline. Whatever comes next in this case, that much should be non-negotiable.