Doctor sentenced to life for killing friend in 1976 love triangle

MONTROSE, Pa. (AP) — A former North Carolina doctor has been given a life sentence for murdering his best friend more than three decades ago so he could marry the friend’s wife.

Sixty-seven-year-old Dr. Stephen Scher was sentenced Friday in Susquehanna County Court, one day after a jury convicted him of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Scher killed 30-year-old Martin Dillon so he could marry Dillon’s wife.

The couple later moved to North Carolina, where Scher built a successful medical practice and raised Dillon’s two children as his own.

Scher argued that Dillon confronted him about his affair and was killed accidentally as the pair struggled over a shotgun.

Scher was also convicted of first-degree murder in 1997. An appeals court ordered a new trial in 2004.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)