Former Serra Excessive baseball star Dan Serafini was convicted on Monday by a Placer County jury of first-degree homicide and tried homicide within the 2021 taking pictures of his spouse’s mother and father.
Serafini, the twenty sixth general decide within the 1992 draft who pitched for seven seasons within the majors, was discovered responsible of taking pictures his father-in-law, Gary Spohr, and severely wounding his mother-in-law, Wendy Wooden on June 5, 2021 on the couple’s Lake Tahoe-area residence. Serafini additionally was convicted of first-degree housebreaking.
Serafini, a 51-year-old graduate of the San Mateo non-public college, faces a most sentence of life in jail with out parole. Sentencing has been set for Aug. 18.
Prosecutors informed the jury that Serafini snuck into his in-laws’ home on the West Shore of Lake Tahoe whereas his spouse and their two youngsters had been spending time along with her mother and father on the lake and he waited 4 hours for his household to depart and head again to their residence in Reno earlier than he ambushed the couple.
Spohr, who was 70, was shot as soon as within the head and located useless on the scene by deputies. Wooden, who was 68, initially survived two photographs to the top and known as authorities, however died a 12 months later.
Assistant Chief Deputy District Legal professional Richard Miller, who prosecuted Serafini, informed the jury that Serafini hated his spouse’s rich mother and father and informed others he was prepared to pay $20,000 to have them killed, in keeping with the Sacramento Bee.
Cash was believed to play a job within the killings. Serafini, who made roughly $14 million in his professional baseball profession, was in debt resulting from poor investments, together with a bar in Sparks, Nevada that was featured on an episode of the truth present ‘Bar Rescue.’ Erin Spohr, his spouse and the daughter of the victims, mentioned in courtroom that she obtained a test for about $90,000 from her mom earlier on the day of the killings and the couple often obtained cash from her mother and father.
Serafini graduated from Serra in 1992 and was a first-round decide of the Minnesota Twins. He pitched for six groups over a seven-year MLB profession and had a stint within the Giants’ minor-league system. After pitching for the Colorado Rockies in 2007, he obtained a 50-game suspension for testing constructive for a banned substance. He mentioned medication prescribed throughout his earlier three seasons in Japan produced the constructive assessments.
Serafini was arrested in October 2023 in Nevada and charged with the homicide of Spohr and the tried homicide of Wooden. Samantha Scott, a former household nanny, accepted a plea deal and have become a witness within the prosecution’s case in opposition to Serafini. She testified that she drove him from Nevada to Lake Tahoe on the day of the taking pictures, pondering he was going there to purchase cocaine.
Serafini stays married to Erin Spohr. Scott testified that she and Serafini started an affair months after the taking pictures that continued till their arrest, they usually remained in communication whereas in custody.
