Ernie Scherer III Wanted to Stay Married so Wife Would not be Forced to Testify

The wife of poker player Ernie Scherer III on Tuesday claimed that he wanted the couple to stay married so that the prosecution could not force her to testify against him.  Under US law, wives cannot be forced to testify against their husbands.

Scherer III is alleged to have murdered both his parents, Ernest Scherer, Jr. and Charlene Abendroth, in their Castlewood Country Club, California home in March of 2008.  Both were found brutally stabbed and beaten. 

Robyn Scherer not only decided to divorce her husband, but also agreed to cooperate with law enforcement in an effort to have Ernie confess to the crimes.

"A wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband,” Scherer III advised Robyn.

Earlier on Monday she had testified that Ernie regularly cheated on her and even ran off on a skiing excursion the same day she gave birth to their first child. 

The San Jose Mercury released a transcript of a taped conversation between the couple played in court on Tuesday.

"Were you in the Bay Area Friday night? Where were you?" she asks him about the night authorities say Ernest Scherer Jr. and Charlene Abendroth were killed.

A long pause follows.

"Hello?" she says.

"I'm just thinking," he replies. "I would love to talk to you about a lot of things, but I really can't talk to you on the phone."

Later, he asks her, "You believe that video puts me there the night of the murders?"

"It looks like you and your car."

"OK."

Scherer III had also asked his wife to erase potentially incriminating text messages he had sent.

- Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher