California judge postpones trial for ex-MLB pitcher accused of murder in Tahoe-area shooting

Rosalio Ahumada, The Sacramento Bee on Mar 10, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Placer Superior Court judge on Monday postponed a murder trial for a former Major League Baseball player accused of shooting his wife’s parents at their Lake Tahoe-area home.

Daniel Serafini, 51, is accused in a reported 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 the 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. Although Wood received extensive rehabilitation, she died a year after the shooting.

During a 10-minute hearing Monday, Judge Garen J. Horst granted a request from the defense attorney to postpone Serafini’s murder trial that was initially scheduled to start next week. The judge rescheduled the trial to begin April 28.

Horst ordered Serafini to return to court Monday when the attorneys are expected to continue to discuss issues over subpoenaed documents and other details as they prepare for the trial. Serafini remains in custody at the Placer County Jail.

The Placer County District Attorney’s Office in fall 2023 charged Serafini and family friend Samantha Scott with murder in Spohr’s death, along with a charge of attempted murder in the shooting that wounded Wood. The filed charges indicate prosecutors believe Serafini shot his wife’s parents, not Scott.

Only Serafini faces special allegation and circumstance enhancements for allegedly using a gun and causing great bodily injury to two elderly victims during the burglary, along with an enhancement that alleges he used a .22 caliber gun to shoot Spohr, according to the criminal complaint. The enhancements made Serafini eligible for the death penalty if convicted. But the District Attorney’s Office in September said it would not seek a capital sentence.

Serafini also faces a charge of first-degree residential burglary stemming from the June 2021 shooting.

Last month, Scott pleaded guilty to a felony charge of being an accessory after the fact in the crime. Her sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled. Prosecutors said the accessory charge could result in a sentence of 16 months to three years.

As a result of the plea deal, prosecutors have agreed to drop charges of murder, attempted murder and first-degree residential burglary against Scott, who was the family’s nanny. She had been in custody since her October 2023 arrest, but she was released from jail after pleading guilty last month.

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 on the day of the shooting, according to the criminal complaint. Prosecutors have said Serafini’s wife and children had been at the home earlier in the day and left before the fatal shooting occurred.

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