Beverly Murder Trial Opens Monday

BEVERLY, MA -- The trial of a man accused of killing his wife in their Beverly home on Nov. 16, 2015 opens with jury selection in Salem Superior Court Monday. Axel Scherer, 48, is acharged with first degree murder in the strangling death of the author Edith "Edie" Black-Scherer, 45. Scherer was taken to Beverly Hospital in critical condition and died of her injuries several days later.

Axel Scherer is expected to mount an insanity defense. He initially told investigators he "lost it" because he had stopped taking his medication. While originally deemed incompetent to stand trial, he was deemed competent during a June 2017 status hearing.

At the time of the murder, the couple was in the process of getting divorced.

Subscribe to Beverly Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Patch file photo via Shutterstock.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).