AUBURN, Calif. (AP) — Retired MLB pitcher Daniel Serafini has been convicted of first-degree homicide and tried homicide within the shootings of his spouse’s dad and mom throughout a housebreaking at their residence 4 years in the past close to Lake Tahoe in California.
A Placer County jury on Monday discovered the 51-year-old responsible of killing his father-in-law, Gary Spohr, and severely wounding his mother-in-law, Wendy Wooden, on June 5, 2021, at their residence on the lake’s west shore. Wooden obtained intensive rehabilitation however died a 12 months after the capturing.
Serafini additionally was convicted of first-degree housebreaking.
Assistant Chief Deputy District Lawyer Richard Miller, who prosecuted the case, informed jurors that Serafini hated his spouse’s rich dad and mom and was heard saying he was keen 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 additionally performed for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies.
The jury was proven transcripts of indignant emails and textual content messages between Serafini and his in-laws during which they had been concerned in a heated, ongoing dispute over a $1.3 million mortgage to assist fund his spouse’s fledgling horse ranch enterprise, the Bee reported.
Protection legal professional David Dratman argued that there was no bodily proof linking Serafini to the crime scene, noting that safety digicam footage confirmed a masked intruder getting into the couple’s residence who seemed to be youthful with a smaller physique body than the previous baseball participant.
Dratman informed the jury that though his consumer had a rocky relationship together with his in-laws, the couple was beneficiant with Serafini and his spouse, loaning them cash and treating them to lavish holidays. “Does that present a motive for homicide? That’s killing the golden goose,” Dratman mentioned in his closing argument.
Dratman declined to remark concerning the verdict.
Serafini faces a most sentence of life in jail with out the potential for parole when he’s sentenced Aug. 18.
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