Convicted killer, former MLB pitcher testifies Monday for new trial

Convicted killer and former Major League Baseball pitcher Dan Serafini, 52, continues his testimony in his fight for a new trial. Monday was the third day he had taken the stand under oath. He was on the stand on Jan. 26 and Feb. 2.Serafini has filed a second motion for a new trial, stating he had ineffective counsel with attorneys David W. Dratman and David Fischer. On Monday, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Rick Miller questioned Serafini. Miller was the lead prosecutor who convicted Serafini of murder and attempted murder. After a two-month trial in May and June, a Placer County jury convicted Serafini in July of shooting his in-laws, Gary Spohr, 70, and Wendy Wood, 68, both in the head. Spohr died that day, while Wood survived her critical injuries but later died by suicide. Prosecutors said Serafini broke into their home in Homewood of Lake Tahoe while the couple was boating with their grandsons and daughter Erin Spohr, waiting in a closet until his family left and shooting them both in the head before 9 pm.Miller played an audio recording of Serafini’s mother-in-law, Wendy Wood, and a detective.Wood recalled seeing Serafini come up their stairs wearing a hoodie. The detective asked how clearly she remembered it.”Very clear… I remember him walking over and seeing him shooting Gary and then pointing the gun at me.” She also said in the recording, “I heard something, I looked up and it all happened very fast. I heard the shots and then I heard another shot and I don’t know.” Wood added that she doesn’t remember calling 911.In the recording, Wood said they felt threatened by Serafini. Det.: How so?Wendy: There was angst there. They were involved in insurance fraud and other things.Det. When did you find that out?Wendy: Well, along the way. We discovered a variety of things they had done.Det.: Can you be more specific?Wendy: I guess there was something about a truck, tools and a wedding ring and jewels allegedly stolen there was insurance for that. You never heard the whole story. Serafini testified that this was the first time he heard the details of the conversation. “I did hear that from Dratman. (His murder trial lawyer) He told me she changed her story. That she was influenced by others to change her story.”Miller also played a side-by-side recording showing a hooded suspect jogging in the victims’ driveway, comparing it to Serafini walking off the pitcher’s mound during a game in 2009. Miller said a former teammate came forward, sharing that comparison with detectives. Serafini acknowledged that it was him in the baseball video.Miller: He said he was on a chat thread with other ex-teammates who agreed it was Serafini in the security video.Miller: This guy is now a retired police officer, that is why he felt the obligation to come forward.Serafini: That was 11 years ago.The jury also made side-by-side comparisons during deliberations, concluding Serafini was the person in the security video. His new lawyer, Barry Zimmerman, had filed an earlier motion for a new trial, stating jury misconduct because of the video comparisons. The judge denied the motion. Miller also questioned Serafini about his violent past, which included violating a restraining order his first wife had against him. He admitted to driving his truck over their trees and into their garage.He also admitted doing dozens of drug deals with cocaine, meth, molly and even having victim Gary Spohr’s prescription medicine after the shootings. He also said he committed insurance fraud. Serafini had previously testified he wanted letters of support and character witnesses to take the stand at his trial and that his lawyers wouldn’t call them. Miller said he would have had the right to question the character witnesses about Serafini’s violent acts. Miller also asked Serafini about his role in jail.Miller: What does it mean to hold the keys in jail?Serafini: You have a certain protection from the inmates, guards.Miller: Are you the key holder at the Placer County Jail?Serafini: NoMiller: Ever the key holder?Serafini: Yes. It started six or seven months when I was at South Placer County and stopped when I left South Placer jail and went to Auburn. Miller: Your group is the white guys in the jail?Serafini: Yes.Miller: You forced people to do exercises?Serafini: Yes.Miller: If they refuse to do exercise, what would happen?Serafini: They would have to leave and go to another pod.Miller: They would get assaulted. Correct?Serafini: NoMiller: The whole group thing is voluntary.Miller: You made someone do 500 burpees?Serafini: I did it too.Miller: Why force this person to do burpees?Serafini: I don’t remember.Miller: How many different inmates during your time as key holder you forced to do exercises?Serafini: Probably six.Miller: What did they do to force to do exercises?Serafini: They got caught scheming.Miller: You call that discipline?Miller: You were responsible for disciplining them?Serafini: YesDuring the trial, Deputy Chief District Attorney Rick Miller laid out the case with video evidence, cellphone records and testimony from Serafini’s codefendant and former lover, Samantha Scott. Serafini was being questioned by his new lawyer, Barry Zimmerman, on Monday. Follow live updates below from Reporter Michelle Bandur, who is reporting from the courtroom after 1 p.m.Under questioning by his new lawyer, Serafini said he expected his former defense lawyers to play a voicemail left by his mother-in-law during her recovery. “I know who the shooter was and it wasn’t you,” Serafini said Wendy Wood told him, claiming she had her visions restored through electric therapy.Serafini spent hours on the stand sharing his version of events from June 5, 2021, the day of the shootings. Wearing his orange jail-issued jumpsuit, he recounted partying with work friends at the Red Lion Inn in Reno the night before and later with Samantha Scott, a lover and co-defendant in the case. He said he drank Scotch and did lines of cocaine and used Molly, which is ecstasy.He said he left early the next morning for his trailer in Crescent Valley, where he spent time with a neighbor he was having an affair with, then spent the rest of the day working at his trailer, sleeping, and watching movies into the night.Serafini said Scott came to the trailer at noon, where he gave her $25,000 for an investment, and he did not see her again in the following days. He also claimed other neighbors saw him walking around his trailer on June 5, and his lawyers were aware of their statements but never called them as witnesses.The man seen on surveillance video entering the victims’ home did so around 5:30 p.m., with the shootings occurring in the 8 p.m. hour. Serafini’s trailer is approximately 300 miles from Lake Tahoe.Erin Spohr, Serafini’s ex-wife, said she is now divorced from him but continues to support him in court. “This is about protecting my kids, ” she said.She believes Serafini did not shoot her parents. Tearfully, she told KCRA 3’s Michelle Bandur that the situation was hard because she is also a victim, and that not only did she lose her parents, her children’s grandparents, but the boys, now 5 and 8, could be losing their father. Serafini also said he told his defense team he wanted to testify and that he didn’t find out until the night before they were to begin their case, which his lawyers said, “he didn’t need to.”He also said he questioned Scott about why she told law enforcement she was with Serafini at Lake Tahoe the day of the shootings:Zimmerman: At anytime did you have a conversation with Samantha Scott about what she told the cops?Serafini: Yes. I freaked out. I told her she better get ahold of somebody to change her statement. Serafini said he was under the impression that she changed her story to the investigators. On Monday, the prosecution will get a chance to question him. The judge previously denied Serafini’s motion for a new trial, stating jury misconduct. Several hearings were held with four jurors testifying about their deliberations. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel

Convicted killer and former Major League Baseball pitcher Dan Serafini, 52, continues his testimony in his fight for a new trial. Monday was the third day he had taken the stand under oath. He was on the stand on Jan. 26 and Feb. 2.

Serafini has filed a second motion for a new trial, stating he had ineffective counsel with attorneys David W. Dratman and David Fischer.

On Monday, Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Rick Miller questioned Serafini. Miller was the lead prosecutor who convicted Serafini of murder and attempted murder.

After a two-month trial in May and June, a Placer County jury convicted Serafini in July of shooting his in-laws, Gary Spohr, 70, and Wendy Wood, 68, both in the head. Spohr died that day, while Wood survived her critical injuries but later died by suicide. Prosecutors said Serafini broke into their home in Homewood of Lake Tahoe while the couple was boating with their grandsons and daughter Erin Spohr, waiting in a closet until his family left and shooting them both in the head before 9 pm.

Miller played an audio recording of Serafini’s mother-in-law, Wendy Wood, and a detective.

Wood recalled seeing Serafini come up their stairs wearing a hoodie. The detective asked how clearly she remembered it.

“Very clear… I remember him walking over and seeing him shooting Gary and then pointing the gun at me.”

She also said in the recording, “I heard something, I looked up and it all happened very fast. I heard the shots and then I heard another shot and I don’t know.”

Wood added that she doesn’t remember calling 911.

In the recording, Wood said they felt threatened by Serafini.

Det.: How so?

Wendy: There was angst there. They were involved in insurance fraud and other things.

Det. When did you find that out?

Wendy: Well, along the way. We discovered a variety of things they had done.

Det.: Can you be more specific?

Wendy: I guess there was something about a truck, tools and a wedding ring and jewels allegedly stolen there was insurance for that. You never heard the whole story.

Serafini testified that this was the first time he heard the details of the conversation.

“I did hear that from Dratman. (His murder trial lawyer) He told me she changed her story. That she was influenced by others to change her story.”

Miller also played a side-by-side recording showing a hooded suspect jogging in the victims’ driveway, comparing it to Serafini walking off the pitcher’s mound during a game in 2009. Miller said a former teammate came forward, sharing that comparison with detectives. Serafini acknowledged that it was him in the baseball video.

Miller: He said he was on a chat thread with other ex-teammates who agreed it was Serafini in the security video.

Miller: This guy is now a retired police officer, that is why he felt the obligation to come forward.

Serafini: That was 11 years ago.

The jury also made side-by-side comparisons during deliberations, concluding Serafini was the person in the security video. His new lawyer, Barry Zimmerman, had filed an earlier motion for a new trial, stating jury misconduct because of the video comparisons. The judge denied the motion.

Miller also questioned Serafini about his violent past, which included violating a restraining order his first wife had against him. He admitted to driving his truck over their trees and into their garage.

He also admitted doing dozens of drug deals with cocaine, meth, molly and even having victim Gary Spohr’s prescription medicine after the shootings. He also said he committed insurance fraud.

Serafini had previously testified he wanted letters of support and character witnesses to take the stand at his trial and that his lawyers wouldn’t call them. Miller said he would have had the right to question the character witnesses about Serafini’s violent acts.

Miller also asked Serafini about his role in jail.

Miller: What does it mean to hold the keys in jail?

Serafini: You have a certain protection from the inmates, guards.

Miller: Are you the key holder at the Placer County Jail?

Serafini: No

Miller: Ever the key holder?

Serafini: Yes. It started six or seven months when I was at South Placer County and stopped when I left South Placer jail and went to Auburn.

Miller: Your group is the white guys in the jail?

Serafini: Yes.

Miller: You forced people to do exercises?

Serafini: Yes.

Miller: If they refuse to do exercise, what would happen?

Serafini: They would have to leave and go to another pod.

Miller: They would get assaulted. Correct?

Serafini: No

Miller: The whole group thing is voluntary.

Miller: You made someone do 500 burpees?

Serafini: I did it too.

Miller: Why force this person to do burpees?

Serafini: I don’t remember.

Miller: How many different inmates during your time as key holder you forced to do exercises?

Serafini: Probably six.

Miller: What did they do to force to do exercises?

Serafini: They got caught scheming.

Miller: You call that discipline?

Miller: You were responsible for disciplining them?

Serafini: Yes

During the trial, Deputy Chief District Attorney Rick Miller laid out the case with video evidence, cellphone records and testimony from Serafini’s codefendant and former lover, Samantha Scott.

Serafini was being questioned by his new lawyer, Barry Zimmerman, on Monday.

Follow live updates below from Reporter Michelle Bandur, who is reporting from the courtroom after 1 p.m.

Under questioning by his new lawyer, Serafini said he expected his former defense lawyers to play a voicemail left by his mother-in-law during her recovery.

“I know who the shooter was and it wasn’t you,” Serafini said Wendy Wood told him, claiming she had her visions restored through electric therapy.

Serafini spent hours on the stand sharing his version of events from June 5, 2021, the day of the shootings.

Wearing his orange jail-issued jumpsuit, he recounted partying with work friends at the Red Lion Inn in Reno the night before and later with Samantha Scott, a lover and co-defendant in the case. He said he drank Scotch and did lines of cocaine and used Molly, which is ecstasy.

He said he left early the next morning for his trailer in Crescent Valley, where he spent time with a neighbor he was having an affair with, then spent the rest of the day working at his trailer, sleeping, and watching movies into the night.

Serafini said Scott came to the trailer at noon, where he gave her $25,000 for an investment, and he did not see her again in the following days. He also claimed other neighbors saw him walking around his trailer on June 5, and his lawyers were aware of their statements but never called them as witnesses.

The man seen on surveillance video entering the victims’ home did so around 5:30 p.m., with the shootings occurring in the 8 p.m. hour. Serafini’s trailer is approximately 300 miles from Lake Tahoe.

Erin Spohr, Serafini’s ex-wife, said she is now divorced from him but continues to support him in court. “This is about protecting my kids, ” she said.

She believes Serafini did not shoot her parents. Tearfully, she told KCRA 3’s Michelle Bandur that the situation was hard because she is also a victim, and that not only did she lose her parents, her children’s grandparents, but the boys, now 5 and 8, could be losing their father.

Serafini also said he told his defense team he wanted to testify and that he didn’t find out until the night before they were to begin their case, which his lawyers said, “he didn’t need to.”

He also said he questioned Scott about why she told law enforcement she was with Serafini at Lake Tahoe the day of the shootings:

Zimmerman: At anytime did you have a conversation with Samantha Scott about what she told the cops?

Serafini: Yes. I freaked out. I told her she better get ahold of somebody to change her statement.

Serafini said he was under the impression that she changed her story to the investigators.

On Monday, the prosecution will get a chance to question him.

The judge previously denied Serafini’s motion for a new trial, stating jury misconduct. Several hearings were held with four jurors testifying about their deliberations.

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel