AUBURN, Calif. (AP/Court TV) — Sentencing for retired MLB pitcher Daniel Serafini was delayed Tuesday after a judge agreed to hear the defense’s motion for a new trial, reported KCRA.
In July, a Placer County jury found the 51-year-old guilty of killing his father-in-law, Gary Spohr, and severely wounding his mother-in-law, Wendy Wood, on June 5, 2021, at their home on Lake Tahoe’s west shore. Wood received extensive rehabilitation but died a year after the shooting.
FILE – Italy’s Dan Serafini throws before the first inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday, March 6, 2013, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
Serafini was convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder and first-degree burglary. He faces life in prison without parole.
Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Miller, who prosecuted the case, told jurors that Serafini hated his wife’s wealthy parents and was heard saying he was willing to pay $20,000 to have them killed, the Sacramento Bee reported.
A left-hander, Serafini was drafted in 1992 by the Minnesota Twins. He also played for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies.
The jury was shown transcripts of angry emails and text messages between Serafini and his in-laws in which they were involved in a heated, ongoing dispute over a $1.3 million loan to help fund his wife’s fledgling horse ranch business, the Bee reported.
Defense attorney David Dratman argued that there was no physical evidence linking Serafini to the crime scene, noting that security camera footage showed a masked intruder entering the couple’s home who appeared to be younger with a smaller body frame than the former baseball player.
Dratman told the jury that although his client had a rocky relationship with his in-laws, the couple was generous with Serafini and his wife, loaning them money and treating them to lavish vacations. “Does that provide a motive for murder? That’s killing the golden goose,” Dratman said in his closing argument.
Dratman declined to comment about the verdict.
The judge agreed to hear the defense’s motion for a new trial in October.
