Accused poker player enters not guilty plea in parent’s death

On Tuesday in Oakland, California a professional poker player pleaded not guilty to charges that he beat and stabbed both of his parents to death in their Pleasanton home.

In his red county issued jumpsuit, Ernest Scherer III appeared pale and withdrawn as he said very few words to Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson as a preliminary hearing was set for July 13.

Waving his right to a 60 day rule for a speedy trial, Scherer’s case will most likely go at a speedy pace. The poker pro faces two counts of murder with special circumstances of using a deadly weapon and committing murder for financial gain, including an enhancement for multiple murders, authorities stated. If convicted, Scherer could face the death penalty.

Investigators have begun to portray Scherer as a Las Vegas gambler who is deep in debt and was hoping to inherit more than $1.25Million. According to an affidavit that was used to secure a warrant for is arrest on February 23, police believe that Scherer turned off his cell phone and drove from Las Vegas to his parent’s home in the Castlewood Country Club area, killed them and then drove back to his own home in Orange County.

Scherer claims that the battery on his cell phone was dead despite the fact that police say a cell phone charger was found in his car.

The bodies of Scherer’s parents were found on March 14 by a worried relative. Ernie Scherer, Jr., 60, and Charlene Abendroth, 57, had been brutally murdered. Details of their deaths were released in local California newspapers.

A few days before being murdered, Ernie Scherer, Jr. met with a mortgage broker. He reportedly was trying to help his son secure a loan and recover more than $600,000 he had loaned him to buy his home in Brea, California. According to an affidavit written by Sgt Scott Dudek, Scherer III also asked a friend to buy him a gun.

Surveillance video from the night of March 7 shows a car that looks like Scherer's 2001 Chevrolet Camaro convertible entering the country club at about 8:30 p.m. and leaving the neighborhood about 12:45 a.m. March 8, investigators said.
Scherer's lawyer, public defender Richard Foxall, said Tuesday that prosecutors had failed to turn over a copy of the video, along with other electronic items. Jacobson set a June 8 date for a discovery hearing.

News Added: 27 May, 2009

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