YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Former MLB star Dan Serafini admitted that he led a group of “White Guys” in prison and would punish certain inmates, KCRA reported.
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He reportedly confirmed that he made one jailer do 500 burpees and said he made six inmates do exercises as punishment for a “scheme”.
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Serafini testified in his attempt to be granted a new trial following his murder conviction back in July
Dan Serafini was back on the witness stand this week in his ongoing quest for a retrial following his murder conviction in July last year.
On Monday, February 9, prosecutors questioned the former MLB star and presented evidence in support of their request that the judge deny his motion for a new trial on the grounds of insufficient counsel.
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Serafini, who refused to testify in his defense in his first trial, spent most of the day being forced to answer questions about his character that put him in a less than optimal light.
While under cross-examination on Monday, Serafini admitted that at one point he led a faction of prisoners composed of “white guys” while in prison, according to a KCRA reporter who was in the courtroom for the proceedings.
The athlete reportedly confirmed that he was “the key holder” during the months he served at the South Placer County Jail, but said he lost that position when he was forced to transfer to a different facility.
“Key holder” is a slang term used to describe an individual who leads a faction of inmates within a jail or prison.
Brian Bahr / Allsport
Serafini also claimed that he was tasked with disciplining individuals who had gone astray in his group, KCRA reported.
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Allegedly, he denied ever assaulting or ordering an attack on any of these individuals, but admitted to other punishments, stating under oath that at least six prisoners were forced to do exercises.
One individual was ordered to do 500 burpees on Serafini’s order, he reportedly confirmed when asked by the prosecutor.
The former pitcher, who played with the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago Cubs in the late nineties, added that he had also done 500 burpees together with the individual.
He could not remember the specific crime the man committed, but allegedly said that the six who received the punishment were “caught planning.”
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This is not all Serafini admitted on the stand during his testimony.
Courtesy Adrienne Spohr
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Serafini allegedly confirmed that he had committed insurance fraud and previously violated a restraining order filed by his first wife.
He also admitted to using a variety of illegal narcotics over the years, as well as his father’s posthumous prescription medication.
Serafini was arrested in October 2023 after a two-year investigation into the June 5, 2021 shooting, which killed his father, Gary Spohr, 70, and seriously injured his mother, Wendy Wood, 68, PEOPLE previously reported.
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It all happened inside the wealthy real estate investor’s Lake Tahoe home just hours after his wife Erin Spohr and their two children had left after spending a day out on the water.
Wood survived but later took her own life two years after the shooting.
Serafini was convicted after a six-week trial, which included testimony from dozens of witnesses, as well as physical, digital and forensic evidence that prosecutors said all pointed to the retired baseball player as the killer. During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Serafini wanted to kill his in-laws so he could share his wife’s inheritance of their $23 million estate.
He is now hoping for a new trial and last week introduced a voicemail recording in which his mother said she knew he was not the shooter.
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Prosecutors responded to this Monday with their own filing, KCRA reported.
That audio is reportedly of his mother in law talking to a detective and said Serafini was the gunman in their house that night.
“I remember him walking by and I saw him shoot Gary and then point the gun at me,” Wood said in the recording.
The judge in the case will issue a decision by February 20. If the motion is denied, the judge will sentence Serafini on that date.
Read the original article on People