Fri, Aug 29 2008
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Published May 01, 2008 01:49 pm - I was afraid for my life. TRIAL UPDATE: Ex-girlfriend tells escape story By TOM FINK
It was a classic courtroom scene Wednesday, as Rhonda Rader, of Wakita, took her seat on the witness stand at the first-degree murder trial of Randy Scharmacher in Claremore. She took deep breaths before she began to speak. To her right, a jury comprised of four men and eight women, beside whom sat two female alternates. Before her, Assistant District Attorneys Jenny Sanbrano and Ray Hassleman, along with Scharmacher’s public defenders Tim Wantland and Ron Berry. To her left, the accused, a former boyfriend and live-in mate, Scharmacher. He is accused of choking his wife, Janice, to death in August 2006. Rader testified she could have easily met such a fate by Scharmacher’s hand. “How did you know the defendant (Scharmacher),” Sanbrano asked Rader. “We had a personal relationship in ’92 or ’93,” Rader said. “It was a romantic one in that we cohabited for a time.” Rader, who did not make eye contact with Scharmacher during her testimony, said she had met him in Collinsville when she was going through a divorce. She said she had spent the night at Sharmacher’s residence in Oologah a few times before she made a trip to Idaho for reasons relating to her then- ongoing divorce. Upon her return, she testified, she was told by Scharmacher that he had taken her belongings out of storage and moved them into his house. “I was kind of shocked he would do that,” Rader said, “but I was going to college at the time, so it was helpful for me to have somewhere to stay.” Rader testified at the time, her relationship with Scharmacher was “good,” but physical abuse from Scharmacher began within six months of their cohabitation. “At one point, he shoved me into my car, a Chevy Lumina,” she said. “It started out as a verbal exchange and ended up with him pushing me into my car and me winding up on the ground.” “Did anything else happen that you would characterize as abuse,” Sanbrano asked. 
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