Former Main League Baseball pitcher Daniel Serafini was discovered responsible on Monday of murdering his father-in-law and trying to kill his mother-in-law.
A jury in California convicted the 51-year-old former Minnesota Twins and Chicago Cubs participant of first-degree homicide, tried homicide and housebreaking for the demise of his rich father-in-law Gary Spohr, 70, and the capturing of his mother-in-law Wendy Wooden, then 69, at their Tahoe-area residence in 2021, CBS Information experiences.
The jury additionally discovered Serafini was responsible of cost enhancements, together with discharging of a firearm to trigger nice bodily damage, mendacity in wait and that the assault was woeful, willful and premeditated, in line with KCRA.
Nonetheless, the 10-woman, two-man jury discovered Serafini was not responsible of kid endangerment.
The previous skilled athlete was then seen staring down the jurors as the decision was handed down on Monday.
It comes simply days after prosecutors confirmed the jury grotesque crime scene photographs of the married couple with gunshot wounds, in line with the Sacramento Bee.
Assistant Chief Deputy District Lawyer Richard Miller additionally informed the jury of how Serafini had constructed up ‘resentment, anger and frustration’ in the direction of his spouse’s dad and mom after ‘decades-worth of heated arguments’.
Because the prosecutors made their case on Tuesday, an impassive Serafini was pictured contained in the courtroom listening on.
Considered one of Serafini’s lawyer’s, David Dratman, additionally made his closing arguments on the day and claimed that the prosecution wouldn’t have any bodily proof that hyperlinks his shopper to the crime scene.
Former Main League Baseball pitcher Daniel Serafini stared down the jury because it handed down its verdict on Monday
Retired businessman Gary Spohr, 70, and his spouse Wendy Wooden, then 69, had been shot at their luxurious Lake Tahoe residence in 2021. He died and she or he miraculously survived solely to hold herself two years later
Placer County prosecutor Richard Miller makes his closing arguments within the case of Serafini
He famous that the safety digital camera footage solely confirmed a masked intruder coming into the property and that the particular person appeared to have a a lot smaller physique body than Serafini.
In courtroom, Dratman stated: ‘Danny Serafini didn’t shoot his in-laws. What we’re coping with listed here are the info.’
In the meantime, the prosecution had additionally, beforehand, informed the courtroom that Serafini hated his rich in-laws and even informed others that he needed them useless, as he continued his affair with the nanny, Samantha Scott, 35.
”I will pay $20,000 to have them killed. They’re rich items of s***.’ That is what he stated about his in-laws,’ Assistant Chief Deputy District Lawyer Miller informed jurors again in Might, in line with the Sacramento Bee.
Serafini allegedly made the remark in 2012, the identical 12 months he married their daughter, Erin, now 36.
Then, simply three months earlier than the homicide, Serafini was additionally overheard by a mine foreman saying he needed to kill them in a livid telephone name.
Prosecutors now say Serafini’s relationship along with his in-laws had been fraught from the start – and tensions solely grew worse as the previous pitcher and his spouse discovered themselves partially reliant on handouts from her rich dad and mom.
Erin and Serafini’s two younger youngsters had visited her dad and mom at their Lake Tahoe compound the day of the grisly homicide, when Wooden handed Erin a examine for $90,000.
David Dratman, lawyer for Serafini, pictured making his closing arguments final Tuesday
Police caught a masked intruder coming into the Spohrs’ Hurricane Bay residence on surveillance footage the night time of June 5, 2021
Carrying a backpack and black hoodie, the person considered the killer carried a hid .22-caliber gun as he strolled round Lake Tahoe on the day of the homicide
Because the household spent the day boating on the lake, a masked man was caught on digital camera sneaking into Spohr’s Tahoe Metropolis shortly after 5pm.
Simply over an hour later, 5 gunshots had been heard in fast succession from contained in the property with the masked killer caught leaving the house a couple of minutes earlier than 9pm.
Prosecutors now assert that the person captured on digital camera was Serafini, who had been pushed to Tahoe Metropolis by his lover Scott – who was arrested alongside the previous baseball star in October 2023 however is now set to testify in opposition to him.
They’ve claimed the previous skilled pitcher was in determined want of money following an acrimonious divorce and a failed bar enterprise for which he misplaced $14 million in earnings from his baseball profession.
Serafini then snuck into the couple’s residence when he knew his spouse and youngsters had been out, and waited with a .22-caliber gun for his spouse and youngsters to return to their Reno residence.
Then as Spohr and Wooden had been watching tv shortly earlier than 9am, Miller stated Serafini opened fireplace.
The prosecutor claimed Spohr was ‘executed’ with a bullet to the again of his head, whereas Wooden was struck by gunfire, vomited and bled on the sofa earlier than she crawled to a rest room the place she managed to name 911.
Serafini was an MLB pitcher who was drafted in 1992 and whose profession spanned 11 years with a number of groups.
The Lake Tahoe residence the place Robert Gary Spohr and Wendy Wooden had been killed in 2021
Serafini was arrested in October 2023 alongside his nanny and alleged lover, Samantha Scott (pictured) for the homicide of his father-in-law and the tried homicide of his mother-in-law
Serafini performed for six Main League Baseball groups together with the Minnesota Twins, the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds
He performed for the Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs and completed his profession with the Colorado Rockies again in 2007.
She was so badly injured that she may solely gasp for air.
Emergency responders rushed to the scene, the place they discovered Spohr’s physique together with bullet shell casings and bloodstains splattered across the luxurious residence.
Medics discovered Wooden within the rest room, and flew her to the hospital in Reno, the place she spent the subsequent month in intensive care.
She finally hanged herself in 2023 and her will is now the topic of a contentious authorized battle between Erin and her different daughter, Adrienne, 39, who’re combating to get custody of the couple’s property – which they estimate to be price $10 million.
Following the murder, Scott claimed she was in Elko on the day of the homicide and stated Serafini had spent the earlier night time together with her there on the Purple Lion On line casino earlier than leaving to return to his Crescent Valley trailer.
However her story modified when police confronted her with cellphone pings that positioned her first in Crescent Valley, then Reno and subsequent crossing into California the place her telephone pinged close to Truckee – a border city near Tahoe Metropolis.
In Tahoe Metropolis, her tan Subaru was captured on residence surveillance footage parking near the Spohr residence at 6:42pm that night time.
Prosecutors say Spohr was ‘executed’ with a bullet to the again of his head, whereas Wooden was struck by gunfire, vomited and bled on the sofa earlier than she crawled to a rest room the place she managed to name 911
The automotive was repeatedly seen transferring from parking spot to parking spot earlier than driving off at 9:22pm that night time with Serafini additionally inside.
In a prolonged interview with authorities in January, Scott informed how she drove the previous big-leaguer to Tahoe Metropolis that day however insisted she had left him by the Fats Cat Bar and Grill after he stated he wanted ‘to select up a package deal.
She stated she collected him a number of hours later for the drive again to Crescent Valley.
Throughout that drive, Scott allegedly claimed Serafini disassembled the gun and threw it out of the transferring automobile’s window alongside along with his garments and a backpack – which prosecutors admitted that investigators by no means recovered.
Serafini’s protection subsequently argued there isn’t any bodily proof linking the previous baseballer to the scene.
He’s now as a result of be sentenced on August 18, when he faces the potential of life behind bars.
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