Placer County DA will not seek death penalty against former MLB player in Tahoe murder case

Placer County prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty in a murder case involving 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 conspiracy to steal from 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 .

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 filed criminal complaint. The enhancements made Serafini eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

The District Attorney’s Office, however, filed a declaration on Sept. 12 with the court that indicated prosecutors would not be seeking the death penalty against Serafini. Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Miller said in the court document that prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty after meetings and discussions with the victims’ family.

KCRA first reported news about the district attorney’s decision on Wednesday.

Attempted murder charge

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 he.

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 oldest daughter, Erin Spohr, and they have two children. Serafini faces an additional charge of child endangerment listing his two small children as victims on June 5, 2021 in Placer County, according to the criminal complaint. It’s not exactly clear whether the children were present during the shooting.

Early on in the investigation, detectives recovered security camera video from a home along West Lake Boulevard showing a man wearing a gray hoodie, white neck gaiter and a backpack walking toward Spohr and Wood’s home hours before the attack. Another video showed the same man walking up the driveway of their home.

Over the next two years, Placer County sheriff’s detectives investigated the shooting. Sheriff’s officials said detectives gathered “information and evidence” that led them to identify Serafini and Scott suspects in the murder case.

In late October 2023, Serafini and Scott were arrested separately in Nevada . Serafin was arrested in Winnemucca, and Scott was apprehended in South Las Vegas.

Major League Baseball career

Serafini is a former MLB player drafted in 1992 by the Minnesota Twins. A left-handed pitcher, he also played for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies, according to Baseball Reference .

He played his last professional game in 2007 before being suspended for 50 games after failing a performance-enhancing drug test, according to an ESPN report . Two years later, he played for Italy in the World Baseball Classic .

Serafini and his wife were featured in a 2015 episode of Paramount Network’s “Bar Rescue,” in which he told producers he had lost $14 million in “bad investments and a bitter divorce settlement” following the end of his major league career.

He purchased a bar called the Bullpen in Sparks, Nevada, and according to the show, Serafini was $300,000 in debt and at risk of losing his home and his parents’ house.

Lawsuits between Erin Spohr and her sister, Adrienne Spohr , allege money played a role in the June 2021 deadly shooting. Spohr and Wood’s estate was worth $10 million, according to Erin Spohr’s lawsuit. Adrienne Spohr alleges in her suit that her sister and Serafini were involved in the “targeted” attack on her parents.

A trial in the murder case has been scheduled to start March 17 in Placer Superior Court. Before then, a judge must hear arguments on a defense motion to overturn a May 9 ruling that ordered Serafini and Scott to stand trial as charged.

The defendants, who remain in custody at the Placer County Jail, are scheduled to return Oct. 28 for a hearing in that defense motion to dismiss the charges against Serafini and Scott.