Rape, Kidnap Give Man ‘Three Strikes’ Rapist Facing Life Without Parole At Sentencing Next Month

A twice-convicted rapist will likely become Spokane County’s latest criminal sentenced to life without parole under the state’s “three strikes” law.

Byron Scherf was convicted Thursday of first-degree rape, first-degree kidnapping and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The charges stem from the 1995 abduction and assault of a Spokane real estate saleswoman. Sentencing is scheduled for April 24, with Superior Court Judge Neal Q. Rielly expected to impose the county’s fourth mandatory life sentence under the state law.

After failing in pretrial motions to have much of the evidence thrown out, the 38-year-old Scherf and defense attorney Kim Roberts opted for a bench trial.

Rielly announced the verdicts after reviewing evidence agreed to by both sides. The victim sat in the courtroom sobbing with relief. She declined comment afterward.

Roberts said later the decision to skip a jury trial was “to prevent the victim, her family and my client’s family from going through two to three weeks of very traumatic testimony.”

The defense attorney also promised an appeal, accusing authorities of illegally seizing evidence.

The victim’s account of the October 1995 attack was the prosecution’s main evidence against Scherf, who was attending Eastern Washington University at the time.

In 1981, he was convicted of raping a woman in Pierce County, then dousing her with gasoline and setting her on fire.

Since Scherf also had been convicted in 1978 for assault, he received a life sentence for the 1981 crime. Based on good behavior, however, he was paroled in 1992.

The victim of the 1995 attack testified that Scherf called her after reading a description of a home for sale in her company’s catalog of real estate listings.

She made an appointment to meet with Scherf, who said he was looking for a new home. She said they entered an unoccupied home near Cheney. They entered a bedroom where the owner left a .22-caliber rifle leaning against the wall.

The victim said Scherf grabbed her by the throat, pushed her onto the bed and said he planned to rape her.

He then dragged her to the basement, where he grabbed a butcher knife, then forced her outside and ordered her into the trunk of his car, she said.

She said he warned her: “Rape doesn’t kill. But if you fight, I will kill you.”

He drove to a remote wooded area, raped her, then said he had planned to kill her but changed his mind because “God told me not to,” the victim said.

He drove her back to the Cheney house, then left after threatening to kill her if she reported the attack, she said.

Scherf was arrested several days later by Post Falls police who stopped him for driving erratically. They said he was high on drugs at the time.

Inside the car, police found a notebook in which Scherf wrote that he had raped the saleswoman and noted, “She looked like a Playboy girl.”

, DataTimes