Former MLB pitcher Dan Serafini is convicted of murder in the 2021 shootings of his wife's parents
A Placer County jury on Monday 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 the lake's west shore. Wood received extensive rehabilitation but died a year after the shooting.
Serafini also was convicted of first-degree burglary.
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.
Serafini faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced Aug. 18.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Trump says he ‘doesn't understand' interest in ‘boring' Epstein case
Donald Trump has said he does not understand why people are interested in the "boring" crimes of Jeffrey Epstein. Speaking to reporters on 15 July after disembarking Air Force One, the US president questioned the fascination with the case, claiming all credible information has already been given. He added that he believes "only pretty bad people, including fake news," want to keep the case going. Trump's comments follow the White House 's declaration that no Epstein client list exists and that his death was ruled a suicide. Watch the video in full above.
BreakingNews.ie
2 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Ghislaine Maxwell could use ‘government misconduct' to challenge imprisonment
The family of disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has said new evidence such as 'government misconduct' could be used to challenge her imprisonment. The 63-year-old was found guilty in December 2021 of luring young girls to massage rooms for paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein to molest between 1994 and 2004. Advertisement She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the southern district of New York (SDNY) in June 2022. The US government has faced a backlash from president Donald Trump's support base following words from attorney general Pam Bondi that there was no evidence Epstein had a 'client list'. Donald Trump's US government has faced a backlash from his support base (PA) Maxwell's family have frequently claimed she 'did not receive a fair trial', but legal appeals against her sex trafficking convictions have been rejected by the courts. Judges previously dismissed her lawyers' arguments that she 'should never have been prosecuted' because of a 'weird' agreement drafted more than 15 years ago – concluding that the Florida agreement 'does not bind' the United States Attorney's Office for the SDNY. Advertisement The US justice department has reportedly written to the Supreme Court to ask a judge to further deny Maxwell's appeal against her convictions. During her three-week trial in 2021, jurors heard prosecutors describe Maxwell as 'dangerous', and were told details of how she helped entice vulnerable teenagers to Epstein's various properties for him to sexually abuse. In a statement, the disgraced socialite's family said: 'Our sister Ghislaine did not receive a fair trial. 'Her legal team continues to fight her case in the courts and will file its reply in short order to the government's opposition in the US Supreme Court. Advertisement 'If necessary, in due course they will also file a writ of habeas corpus in the US district court, SDNY. 'This allows her to challenge her imprisonment on the basis of new evidence such as government misconduct that would have likely changed the trial's outcome.' Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein (US Department of Justice/PA) The statement continued: 'Following the government's response, David Oscar Markus, counsel of record for our sister in her petition to the United States Supreme Court, had this comment: 'I'd be surprised if President Trump knew his lawyers were asking the Supreme Court to let the Government break a deal. 'He's the ultimate dealmaker and I'm sure he'd agree that when the United States gives its word, it should keep it. Advertisement 'With all the talk about who's being prosecuted and who isn't, it's especially unfair that Ghislaine Maxwell remains in prison based on a promise the US government made and broke.' World Trump defends Bondi amid uproar over Jeffrey Epste... Read More 'These are sentiments with which we profoundly concur.' Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide. Advertisement
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Donald Trump dismisses inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein as ‘boring'
Donald Trump has dismissed a secretive inquiry into the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as 'boring' and of interest only to 'bad people', but said he backed the release of any 'credible' files, as he sought to stamp out a conspiracy-fuelled uproar among his supporters. The US president is facing a political crisis within his usually loyal Republican 'Make America Great Again' (Maga) base over suspicion that the administration is hiding details of Epstein's crimes to protect the rich elite he associated with, which included Trump. One of the most dramatic theories circulating among supporters is that Epstein – who killed himself in 2019 while in federal custody – was murdered by powerful figures to cover up their roles in his sex crimes against children. 'I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody,' Trump told reporters on Tuesday night when asked why his supporters are so interested in the case. 'It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring, and I don't understand why it keeps going. 'I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going,' he added. 'But credible information, let them give it. Anything that is credible, I would say, let them have it.' During his election campaigns, Trump fuelled multiple conspiracies by his Maga movement, including that the country is controlled by shadowy 'deep state' elites. This has caused deep paranoia among his base, who are now, unusually, questioning their leader over the Epstein controversy. Last week, the justice department and the FBI announced that a review of the case files had confirmed that Epstein had killed himself, and there was no list of his clients to be made public. Conservative allies of the president have focused their anger on the attorney general, Pam Bondi, who was leading the case, as she had previously said Epstein's client list was 'sitting on my desk right now to review'. Several other high-profile conservatives have called for Trump to make public everything known about Epstein. Even his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, a Fox News host, has been critical, saying: 'I do think that there needs to be more transparency on this.' On Tuesday, Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, called for the Justice Department to make the document public, breaking with Trump in a rare moment of friction between the allies. 'It's a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide it,' Johnson told Benny Johnson, a rightwing podcaster, in an interview released on Tuesday. 'I agree with the sentiment that we need to put it out there.'
