Defense attorney argues former MLB player in Tahoe murder case is not masked suspect in video
Defense attorneys are challenging a Placer Superior Court ruling ordering a trial, arguing prosecutors did not prove that a masked suspect captured in security camera video is “definitively” a former Major League Baseball player accused of shooting his wife’s parents three years ago at their Lake Tahoe-area home.
Daniel Serafini, 50, and family friend Samantha Scott, 34, are accused in an alleged burglary at the home of the married couple, 70-year-old Gary Spohr and 68-year-old Wendy Wood.
Spohr was shot once in the head, killing him during the June 5, 2021 burglary at their Homewood residence on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, the victims’ family has said. Wood suffered two gunshot wounds to the head but regained consciousness to call authorities for help.
Wood was treated at a hospital for more than a month and underwent extensive rehabilitation, but she died a year after the shooting.
The Placer County District Attorney’s Office last year charged Serafini and Scott with murder in Spohr’s death.
Serafini and Scott, who have been in custody at the Placer County Jail since their arrests a year ago, were back in court Monday morning. Their attorneys filed a motion asking the judge to overturn a May 9 ruling ordering the defendants to stand trial and dismiss the criminal charges.
David Dratman, Serafini’s attorney, argued in his filed motion that the prosecution did not present any evidence that “definitively” identifies him as the unidentified masked suspect captured on video entering and exiting the couple’s home on the night of the shooting.
Judge James Oakley, who presided over the May preliminary hearing, was shown the video of the suspect. Dratman argued that Oakley couldn’t ascertain whether the person in the video matches Serafini’s height, weight or physical characteristics, but relied on circumstantial evidence and testimony from people who know Serafini and investigating officers.
“Simply put, Daniel Serafini was not shown to be the man in the mask,” Dratman wrote in his filed motion. “The commitment order was based on suspicion, speculation and guesswork alone. It relied primarily on the lay opinions of people whose conclusions were not supported by any of the physical evidence.”
Judge Garen J. Horst was scheduled to hear arguments from the attorneys over the dismissal motion, but he said he could not proceed with the Monday morning hearing without first seeing the exhibits of evidence submitted in the murder case. He rescheduled the hearing to take place Dec. 2, after which Horst will announce his ruling.
A trial in the murder case has been scheduled to start the week of March 17.
Only Serafini faces special allegation and circumstance enhancements that allege he used a .22 caliber gun to kill Spohr during a burglary while lying in wait for the victim, according to the criminal complaint. The enhancements made Serafini eligible for the death penalty if convicted. But the District Attorney’s Office in September decided not to seek the death penalty against Serafini.
Serafini and Scott each face a charge of attempted murder in the shooting that wounded Wood. Only Serafini faces an enhancement that alleges he used a .22 caliber gun to shoot her.
The defendants both face a charge of first-degree residential burglary stemming from the June 2021 shooting; only Serafini faces enhancements for allegedly using a gun and causing great bodily injury to two elderly victims during the burglary.
At the time of the shooting, Serafini was married to Spohr and Wood’s eldest daughter, Erin Spohr, and they have two children. Serafini faces an additional charge of child endangerment listing his two small children as victims the day of the shooting, according to the criminal complaint.
Security camera video shows Erin Spohr and her children arriving at her parents’ West Lake Boulevard home on the afternoon of June 5, 2021, before the mother and her children went to the lake, according to Dratman’s motion to dismiss. She and her children returned to the home a few hours later and left.
The defense motion indicates gunshots can be heard at 8:51 p.m., and the masked suspect was seen in the video leaving the home at 8:55 p.m.
Prosecutors have not charged Erin Spohr with any crime connected to the shooting at her parents’ home or accused her of being an accomplice.
Erin Spohr testified in the May preliminary hearing that she had a “complex” relationship with her mother, but her mother would do anything for her children. She said her mother made contributions to pay for daycare and nanny services, and she continued to pay for her eldest child’s school tuition until she died, according to the defense motion.
Serafini’s attorney wrote in his motion that Wood gave Erin Spohr about $80,000 to $90,000 before she left her parents’ home with her children to drive back to Reno on June 5, 2021, before the shooting. Erin Spohr testified the masked suspect in the video was not Serafini, who is much bigger.
This story was originally published October 28, 2024 at 12:50 PM.
