Tucker Richard, seated left, is pictured with members of the Chautauqua County Public Defender’s Office. He has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of his stepfather Scott Blake. P-J photo by Gregory Bacon

MAYVILLE – Two members of law enforcement testified in the trial involving a south county resident who shot and killed his stepfather last year.

Tucker Richard, 20, has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Scott Blake, who was shot to death on Jan. 6, 2023 at his home, 2256 Willard St. Ext. in the town of Ellicott.

The trial began Monday with opening statements and two members of law enforcement testifying, one of which was Lt. Samuel Piazza with the Jamestown Police Department.

Piazza returned to the witness stand Tuesday morning where he continued to share his accounts of the day.

Piazza said he told the Emergency Medical Services they did not need to respond because he could tell that Blake was not alive.

During cross-examination, Public Defender Nathan Barone questioned this decision, asking if he felt Blake needed medical attention.

Piazza said he did not see any blood or serious injury on Richard’s body. He did note that he saw a small mark on the left side of Richard’s neck, as well as a mark on his head. He also said that one of Richard’s hands appeared to have been scraped, but he did not believe those injuries were fresh.

Barone had told members of the jury Monday that Richard shot and killed Blake in self defense and alleged that Blake had hit Richard in the head with a shotgun, causing it to break.

Piazza did state that there were pieces of gun parts discovered in the hallway near a bedroom.

After Piazza, Investigator Mark Baglia with the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office was brought to the witness stand.

Baglia went over step by step what members of the Forensic Investigation Team did the night of the homicide in both securing the scene and collecting evidence.

Video footage from Baglia’s bodycam was shared with members of the jury, as well as numerous photographs which Baglia took that night.

During Baglia’s testimony, the Public Defender’s Office made multiple objections regarding his descriptions of the murder scene that night as well as questioned his qualifications to make determinations on what he saw.

The jury was ushered out of court so Judge David Foley could speak with both the defense and the prosecution before being brought back in when Baglia’s testimony resumed.

After the jury was brought back in, Baglia identified several pieces of evidence collected at the scene, including shotguns, articles of clothing, and DNA swabs collected.

Batglia was questioned by the defense about the process as well as the timeline of the evidence collected, and reports made. He was also questioned about various photos he took at the scene.

The trial is expected to resume Wednesday morning.

This is the first murder trial during Schmidt’s tenure as district attorney after being elected in 2020. There have been other murder cases that received guilty pleas as well as two manslaughter trials.