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Ernest Scherer III testified this week that he was hung over from a long night of drinking and was asleep alone on the couch in his Brea, Calif., home while his parents were killed in Pleasanton.
Scherer is on trial in the stabbing and bludgeoning deaths of his parents, Ernest Scherer Jr. and Charlene Abendroth, at their Castlewood home in March 2008. He spent most of this week on the witness stand testifying about his actions leading up to and following the double slaying.
Scherer categorically denied buying Nike Impact Tomahawk sneakers, a baseball bat or soccer gloves in Primm, Nev. He was asked about each individually by defense attorney Richard Foxall and replied, “No” to each question.
Scherer also testified he doesn’t shop at outlet stores such as the one in Primm where investigators turned up a receipt for a cash purchase of the three items around the time Scherer bought gas and a fast food meal in the small Nevada town. While the sneakers, bat and gloves have never been recovered, police did find a sticker at the home from a baseball bat like the ones bought with cash in Primm.
He said he had consumed large amounts of alcohol in Las Vegas the night before he headed home and fell asleep on his couch, and couldn’t recall much of the journey home, the route he took or the movie that was on television that night, although he did remember it was still light out when he got home.
Scherer’s recollection of the day the double murder occurred seemed sketchy compared to his memory of the next day, when he arrived at his grandfather’s home for breakfast before they headed out to play in a bridge tournament.
He also testified this week that he was stunned when his wife, Robyn, told him she had seen a surveillance video of a car similar to his at his parents’ Pleasanton home the night they were murdered.
“I was beyond surprised,” Scherer said.
When Foxall asked him why, Scherer said, “I wasn’t there on March 7, 2008,” which is the night that prosecutor Michael Nieto says that Scherer killed his parents.
Under questioning from Foxall, Scherer also denied many of the prosecution claims about his behavior following the slayings. He testified, for example, that his wife suggested that she delete text messages sent to him, and not that he suggested that to her, as she testified earlier. Those text messages were sent during an hours-long period around the time of the killings; Scherer has claimed his phone’s battery was dead, and he didn’t realize that until the next morning.
Scherer also said that he and Robyn went online to look at places they could go without a passport.
“We quickly decided it wouldn’t look good,” he testified. Robyn Scherer has claimed that her husband went online alone.
Ernest Scherer III also denied testimony from his aunt, Carolyn Oesterle, about the fist-pumping she claimed she saw during a walk when she told him he couldn’t have committed the crime.
“I’ve never been for a walk around the block with my aunt in my entire life,” he testified.
Prosecutors allege that Scherer killed his parents after falling deep into debt, thanks in part to the $880,000 Brea home he bought in September 2007. His parents provided a $616,000 home loan that prosecutor Michael Nieto claims became the “accelerant” for Scherer to fall deep into debt and kill his parents. Foxall has maintained that police focused all their attention on Scherer and never investigated other possible suspects.
In addition to the two counts of murder, Scherer faces two special-circumstance allegations of multiple murder and murder for financial gain. He is also charged with two use-of-a-deadly-weapon clauses for allegedly using a sharp instrument in the murders.
