Ex-MLB pitcher Dan Serafini’s bid for new murder trial rejected: ‘LIAR, MANIPULATOR’
· Toronto Sun
Dan Serafini’s motion for a new murder trial was denied by a judge in California.
The former Major League Baseball player was convicted last July of killing his father-in-law , as well as the attempted murder of his mother-in-law and first-degree burglary following the six-week trial.
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It’s the second motion Serafini had filed seeking a new trial, claiming jury misconduct and ineffective counsel.
His first attempt at a new trial was denied last month, and on Friday, Judge Garen J. Horst rejected his second bid.
The 52-year-old was reprimanded by the judge, who, during his rulin,g called him a “liar, manipulator, arrogant and someone who has a loose relationship with the truth,” KCRA reported.
Serafini will be sentenced on Friday, seven months after he was found guilty of the murder of Gary Spohr, 70, and attempted murder of Spohr’s wife, Wendy Wood, 68.
During the sentencing hearing, the victim’s friends and family will get their chance to read impact statements.
Laid in wait before deadly attack
During the trial, prosecutors alleged Serafini wanted to kill his in-laws so that he could share his now-estranged wife’s inheritance of their $23-million estate.
Serafini broke into the couple’s Homewood, Calif., home on June 5, 2021, and waited three hours before attacking them with a .22-calibre gun, according to prosecutors.
Spohr died in the ambush, while Wood survived after being shot twice in the head.
Wood died by suicide in 2023, with family members saying lingering trauma from the incident was a contributing factor.
Two children under the age of three were also present in the home at the time of the attack, but were unharmed.
Serafini’s arguments
The former pitcher, who played with six Major League teams, including the Minnesota Twins, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies, had argued in his motion that his previous lawyers refused to introduce a voicemail from Wood into evidence or play it during his trial.
That voicemail, which was later played in court, has Wood saying: “I had restoration of my visions due to electric therapy and I know who the shooter was and it wasn’t you.”
Prosecutors responded with their own recording of Wood during an interview with detectives after the shooting, in which she identified her son-in-law as the gunman.
“I remember him walking over and seeing him shooting Gary and then pointing the gun at me,” Wood said in the recording.
Wrongful death lawsuit
Serafini and his estranged wife, Erin Spohr, are also named in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Erin’s sister, Adrienne Spohr, KCRA reported.
That suit is currently stayed until after Serafini’s sentencing, though Erin has never been accused of any wrongdoing and has an alibi for the time of her father’s murder.
Serafini is facing life in prison.