Ex-Wife Reads Letter to Scherer III

The prosecution rested its case today against professional poker player Ernest Scherer III with his former wife completing her third day of testimony against him on charges that he murdered his parents at their Pleasanton home in March 2008.

The decomposed bodies of Ernest Scherer Jr., 60, who was a real estate investor, and Charlene Abendroth, 57, an accounting lecturer who taught for more than 30 years at California State University, East Bay, in Hayward, were found at their home on March 14, 2008. Prosecutor Michael Nieto has said he believes they were killed on the night of March 7, 2008.

Nieto told jurors in his opening statement that he believes Ernest Scherer III killed his parents because he faced financial pressure from his gambling debts in Las Vegas and from the purchase of an expensive home in Brea in Southern California, where he lived with his wife, Robyn Scherer, and their young son, Ernest Scherer IV.

Nieto said Scherer III also spent a lot of money on various girlfriends that he had around the country.

Nieto said Scherer III needed a $616,000 loan from his parents, as well as a smaller loan from the house's previous owners, to be able to afford the house. He alleged that the house became "the accelerant" that caused him to fall deep into debt and kill his parents.

Robyn Scherer, 32, who divorced Scherer III last year, today read aloud in court a letter that she wrote to him in late May 2008, two months after his parents were killed. She said on Tuesday that that was the first time she had seen him since shortly after his parents' deaths.

Robyn Scherer told Scherer III in the letter that his behavior in abandoning her and their son and living in a secret location after his parents were killed "makes you look guilty in the cops' eyes."

Robyn Scherer said, "I'm cooperating with the cops so that Ernie (their son) is not taken away from me."

She said that she and their son were living in protective custody because they feared for their safety.

Scherer told Scherer III that they owed $2,743 on one of their home loans and $10,555 in property taxes, and that they would lose their home soon unless he came up with some money.

"Our whole life is being flushed down the toilet," she wrote to him.

Robyn Scherer also said told Scherer III, "I'm extremely worried about you," because he was seeing a doctor. She wanted to know if he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease with all his affairs with other women.

She asked, "Do I need to be tested for anything?"

Robyn Scherer wrote, "I'm shocked and can't believe that you were living such a double life."

Scherer III's lawyer, Richard Foxall, began the defense's case late today by calling to the witness stand Alameda County sheriff's Detective Mike Norton, who previously testified as a prosecution witness in the trial, which began on Jan. 4.

Scherer III's trial will resume Tuesday morning. The defense's case is expected to last about two weeks. Foxall was unavailable to comment on whether Scherer will testify because Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Horner has issued a gag order preventing the attorneys in the case from speaking to the news media.

Scherer III is accused of two counts of murder and faces two special circumstance allegations: multiple murder and murder for financial gain. In addition, he's charged with two use-of-a-deadly weapon clauses for allegedly using a sharp instrument to kill his parents.

Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty for Scherer, but he could face life in prison without the possibility of parole if he's convicted.

—Jeff Shuttleworth, Bay City News