Tucker Richard

MAYVILLE – Four more members of law enforcement testified at the trial of a south county resident accused of killing his stepfather nearly two years ago.

Tucker Richard, 20, has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Scott Blake in the town of Ellicott Jan. 6, 2023.

Wednesday morning, Investigator Mark Baglia from the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office returned to the witness stand. He was sworn in Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, Assistant Public Defender James Williams asked Baglia if Richard told him that he shot Blake in self defense, to which Baglia said he didn’t recall that statement.

Williams asked Baglia about his background, in which Baglia noted he has taken special training in understanding trajectory.

Afterward, Erik Bentley with the District Attorney’s Office, asked Baglia to further explain his understanding of the trajectory, to which the Public Defender’s Office objected.

At that point County Court Judge David Foley sent the jury out of the courtroom.

The Public Defender’s Office argued that Baglia’s background in trajectory training was not disclosed to them, saying they were never provided Beglia’s resume.

Public Defender Nathan Barone requested an adjournment in the trial so they could get their own expert in trajectory.

After a brief break, Foley ruled that since Williams started the discussion regarding Baglia’s expertise, he was going to permit Baglia’s testimony to stand and denied the defense’s request for an adjournment.

Barone continued to express his disagreement and Foley said the defense’s objections were noted.

After the jury returned and testimony resumed, Baglia said looking at the scene, he believes the fatal shot was fired inside the home, located at 2256 Willard St. Ext.

Following Baglia, Chautauqua County Sheriff Deputy Garrett Neel took the stand.

Neel described the scene as he arrived around 1:30 a.m. and shared about how he was part of the team collecting evidence. He also helped in removing the deceased’s body.

After Neel, Det. Courtney Schauman with the Jamestown Police Department took the stand.

She worked with Neel in taking photographs as well as did a sketch of the property.

Like Neel, Schauman is a member of the Forensic Investigation Team.

She did enter the home as part of her investigation, entering the rear of the building, as there were reports of a deceased individual in the front.

Schauman said her sketch was not to scale, but that it was a fair representation of the scene.

The sketch was entered into evidence, over the objection of the defense team.

After Schauman, Det. Craig Damon with the Jamestown Police Department took the witness stand.

He is also a member of the Forensic Investigation Team, serving as a co-manager.

Like other members of law enforcement, he discussed the process of documenting evidence at the scene.

Included in the items he noted was three pieces of a shotgun located in the upstairs of the house.

On Monday during opening statements, the defense alleged that Blake hit Richard with the gun, causing it to break.

Other items Damon noted included other long guns, shotgun shells, 22-caliber bullets, and a folding knife.

The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday with Damon to be questioned by the defense.

In a separate matter, Foley ruled that a transcript to go with a video that was scheduled to be used in the future cannot be used.

The prosecution said they felt the transcript was necessary because of the poor audio quality. The defense objected, saying they weren’t sure the words in the transcript were completely accurate.

The prosecution did not say at the end of the day if they still planned on using the video or not. District Attorney Jason Schmidt requested the ruling because he said it would help him in his planning.