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.
“Yes,” Rader said. “In June of 1994, I was planning a trip to Colorado to take my children to my ex-husband’s house. It was a trip I was making with plans to leave Randy permanently. I’d taken all my important papers and hid them in my car and let my ex know I was bringing the kids.”
Rader testified that Scharmacher ingratiated himself with her for the trip, bringing with him a handgun, making no specific threats by having the “innuendo of threat.”
“At one point, we stopped at a gas station, and I went inside to call my ex to let him know Randy was coming with us,” she said. “I didn’t want him to say or do anything to upset Randy and possibly jeopardize me or him or my kids.”
During another stop, Rader said Scharmacher went into a convenience store, loaded the handgun and set it on the console of the car.
“I was honestly afraid he was going to shoot my ex-husband or kids if I tried to leave him then,” she said. “My children were never allowed to talk about my ex in front of Randy.”
Rader said the final straw for her came in the fall of 1994 when another argument with Scharmacher escalated into physical violence.
“I remember winding up on the floor between the dinette table and the refrigerator in the kitchen, but I don’t remember how I wound up there,” she said.
“Did Mr. Scharmacher cause you to end up on the floor,” Sanbrano asked.
“Yes,” she said. “All I remember is that he was straddling me and had his hands on my throat and I was kicking and pushing and trying to get away from him.”
“What were you doing?” Sanbrano asked.
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