Pocono News Section

Jurors Hear From Scher in Susquehanna County

Jurors Hear From Scher in Susquehanna County - Thursday, March 6, 2008 at 5:06PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Thursday, Mar 6, 2008 @05:06pm EST
MONTROSE, SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY - The past is coming back to haunt Doctor Stephen Scher in Susquehanna County. Prosecutors re-lived the dramatic testimony of the accused killer from 1997 in court Thursday morning.

For more than two hours, the dramatic testimony of when Scher last took the stand was read to the jury. It was testimony where Scher admitted to lying about what happened the day his best friend, Martin Dillon, was shot and killed.

On the stand eleven years ago, Scher admitted to an affair and admitted to changing his story several times about what happened during a hunting trip in Silver Lake Township. Through testimony, Scher said "I told a lie for 21 years...I was making up a lie as I went along," Scher said during the testimony.

Through court records, jurors heard Scher say he tried to take the gun away from Dillon. That contradicted his original story from 1976 in which he said he was 100 feet away from the victim.

Besides the past testimony, two other witnesses took the stand Thursday morning.

The first witness of the day, Herbert MacDonell, an expert in blood stains, also said both men had to be close together when Dillon died.

"They wanted my opinion as to discharge distance and I gave a range of three-to-five feet from muzzle to target," MacDonell said.

The other witness to take the stand was William Hairston who took Scher's original statement in 1976. The now retired state trooper says this is the most complicated case he has ever worked on.

"I would say it is the most infamous (case) I was involved with, at least the one that got the most coverage," Hairston said.

Thursday was a shortened day of testimony and the re-trial will not resume until Monday morning at 9:00 AM. Prosecutors say they have three more expert witnesses to call before they plan to give the case over to the defense.

Jurors are expected to get the case late next week.