MAYVILLE – The jury was able to hear for the first time a recording of the stepson discussing the incidents of the day when he shot and killed his stepfather after the two of them fought.

Thursday marked the seventh day of the case of Tucker Richard who has been charged with second-degree murder. He was arrested in the death of Scott Blake, who was shot and killed on Jan. 6, 2023 on Willard Street Extension. Richard was 18 at the time and Blake was 57.

Sgt. Kevin Pierce with the Ellicott Police Department took the witness stand and described how he took Richard to the police station, read him his Miranda Rights and asked him if he was willing to be interviewed, which would be recorded.

According to Pierce, Richard said that he should “probably have a lawyer” but said he would talk “if it will make your job easier.”

Pierce said during the interview that Richard told him he was asleep when Blake had broken into his room, holding a shotgun.

According to Pierce, Richard told him that Blake was angry about him having a messy room and that Blake began hitting him with an empty sawed-off shotgun, “trying to knock him out.”

According to Pierce, Tucker told him he got that gun out of his hands while they were wrestling in the hallway and it broke.

He said that Richard told him Blake ran downstairs to get another gun and Richard followed him right behind.

In the living room, Blake got another gun out of a closet and the two of them began wrestling over that gun.

Pierce said Richard told him that while the two were wrestling, Blake accidentally pulled the trigger and shot himself in the head.

According to Pierce, Richard told him his hand was on the “pump” part of the gun while they were wrestling.

But Pierce said he understood that Blake had been shot in the back of the head and couldn’t understand how he could have held the gun in that position.

Because of this, Pierce asked Richard to tell his whole story again.

The second time through, Pierce said Scott gave the same account about Blake kicking in the door to come into his bedroom and had hit him with the shotgun.

However this time around, Pierce said that Richard told him that after the gun was broken upstairs, Blake ran downstairs to get another gun and the two of them began wrestling over it.

Pierce said Richard told him there was a third gun that he believed Blake was trying to get and it was at this point that Richard shot Blake.

Pierce said that Richard told him he didn’t aim the gun and didn’t know if it was loaded. He had pulled the trigger “on instinct.”

Pierce asked Richard why he didn’t run out the front door and he responded that he didn’t want to get shot in the back.

At some point during the interview, Pierce went to check on the recording being made and found that the audio was inaudible so he brought in his body cam and had Tucker share his story for the third time.

The prosecution had asked Judge David Foley earlier in the day Thursday if they could play the original recording and provide a transcript, which Foley had previously ruled against. Foley agreed to re-review the recording, which he did before Pierce was brought to the stand and again confirmed his ruling against the transcript.

At the end of the day Thursday, the body cam recording, which would have been the third time Richard had shared his story, was played for the jury.

In it, Richard could be heard saying that he shot the gun “just to scare” Blake and that it was done on instinct.

Richard also said he thought about taking his own life immediately after shooting Blake.

Earlier in the day the defense had completed questioning Vanessa Richmond, a forensic scientist at the state police Investigation Lab in Albany.

The trial is scheduled to resume Friday.