http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news....id=532624&rfi=61976 love-triangle murder case reopened
BY JEREMY G. BURTON
TIMES • SHAMROCK WRITER
jburton@timesshamrock.com
03/05/2008
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MONTROSE — In the case against Dr. Stephen Scher, everything new is old again.
The murder retrial of Scher opened Tuesday with 12 witnesses that already testified against him once before.
Prosecutor Patrick Blessington characterized Scher as a duplicitous, selfish man who would do anything to get what he wanted, namely the wife of his good friend, Martin Dillon.
The case Blessington laid out in his opening statement was reminiscent of the one delivered a decade ago. And why not? It worked in 1997, when Scher was convicted of Dillon’s 1976 murder.
A new trial was ordered in 2004.
Joshua Lock, Scher’s attorney, told the jury they would hear extensive evidence of the affair between Scher and Patricia Dillon, whom Scher later married.
But the forensic evidence on the shooting, Lock said, would prove inconclusive.
Lock spent a long time detailing the prosecution’s witnesses, nearly bogging down his own points about the case. But he stressed the matter of premeditation, and he said any role Scher played in Dillon’s death was not intentional. If the murder was premeditated, Lock argued, why would he flaunt the affair?
Scher also would have engineered a better cover-up than the story he concocted, Lock said. For years, Scher said Dillon tripped while chasing a porcupine and shot himself.
Blessington emphasized what he called Scher’s history of lies, from the murder-scene cover-up to his testimony in the first trial, when Scher said a shotgun fired accidentally during a struggle.
Blessington said that, too, was a lie to hide that Scher took aim and fired into his friend’s heart.
“It was a stage show written, directed and produced by that defendant,” he said.
Lock said Scher’s lies were evidence of fear, not guilt. He said any animosity between Scher and Dillon was mutual, and alcohol may have played a role in the shooting.
The first witnesses called were repeats from the first trial — hospital aides, nurses, friends and neighbors testifying to the affair.
Two had died since the first trial, so nurse Sandra Price’s testimony was delivered in a decade-old video, while acquaintance Myron Griffis’ was read from a transcript.
Kerry Graham, a college friend of the victim, choked up while recalling a conversation in which Dillon conveyed frustration with his wife.
Close friend Kendall Strawn recalled an unforgettable look of “jealousy and hate” that Scher directed at Dillon during a party.
Lock declined to cross examine all but one of the prosecution witnesses.
Visiting Judge William L. Henry adjourned court early, citing the need to schedule around experts who cannot testify until later in the week.
©The REPUBLICAN & Herald 2008