Pocono News Section

Defense Begins Calling Witnesses in Scher Murder Re-Trial

Defense Begins Calling Witnesses in Scher Murder Re-Trial - Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 7:29PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Tuesday, Mar 11, 2008 @07:29pm EST
MONTROSE, SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY - On the seventh day of the Doctor Stephen Scher murder re-trial, defense lawyers were finally able to start calling their first witnesses. They will try to prove that the 67-year-old did not kill his best friend Martin Dillon during a hunting trip in 1976.

Jurors heard testimony from two witnesses just after 2:30 PM on Tuesday. The witnesses were Samuel Palanack and Doctor Cyril Wecht. Both men could not be in court, so jurors heard a read-back of their testimony from Scher's first murder trial in 1997. Both of the witnesses had examined all of the physical evidence from the murder scene.

Wecht backed-up Scher's story about the shooting after examining the wounds of victim Martin Dillon. Wecht said of the wounds, "the significance is that this shot was fired at close range."

That's important because in his 1997 murder trial, Scher said he struggled with Dillon over the gun and it accidentally went off.

Wecht went on to say, "in my opinion, I find nothing that contradicts the struggle scenario in this case."

More defense witnesses are expected to take the stand Wednesday. Right now, defense attorney Joshua Lock has not given any new indications about whether Scher will take the stand in his own defense again.

Right before leaving court, the judge told jurors that the defense will most likely finish its case on Wednesday. That would mean closing statements would take place Thursday morning and deliberations could begin as early as Thursday afternoon.