MAYVILLE – An Ellicott man’s future is in the hands of the jury.

On Wednesday, both the defense and prosecution gave closing arguments in the trial of Tucker Richard, who is charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 6, 2023, shooting death of his stepfather, Scott Blake.

While the defense maintained its claim that the attack was in self-defense, the prosecution presented new theories that cast doubt on Richard being in danger and suggested that Blake’s death was intentional.

DEFENSE CLOSING REMARKS

The day began with Public Defender Nathaniel Barone giving briefs to his client.

Barone stated that the hearing was never intended to identify the shooter. Richard, who was 18 at the time of the shooting, was the person who called 911 and told police he shot Blake.

But Barone said it was done in self-defense. “We told you from the beginning that Tucker decided to split the division to avoid being victimized. Tucker took a split division decision to survive. Tucker decided to live as a divided division. Tucker made a split-second decision about what he believed he needed to do. He would not die on the night of January 6, 2023. He wasn’t going to die and he had every right. “He had every reason to take that rifle away from Scott Blake,” he said.

Barone spoke for just over an hour.

During his time, Barone criticized Richard being detained, put into a police car in the middle of winter, barefoot and wearing pajama bottoms, taken to the police station, and not receiving any medical attention despite Richard’s express request.

Barone also criticized lead investigator Kevin Pierce of the Ellicott Police Department; Barone said he determined “three or four minutes” after arriving on the scene that the shooting was not self-defense. You’ve seen what Tucker looks like. Did this seem planned to you? he asked the jury.

Barone also stated that during questioning, Richard was asked if he considered leaving the house rather than shooting Blake. Tucker didn’t have time to consider his options. He didn’t have time to think about doing anything different. He was fighting for his life. “Fighting for your life is a fundamental right,” he said.

Barone noted that a lot of evidence was presented at the hearing. He called it “window dressing” and said Tucker told police exactly what happened that night.

Finally, Barone asked the jury to guess what they would do in this situation. “Put yourself in Tucker’s shoes and understand the decision that Tucker had to make at that very moment,” he said.

PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE CLOSING SPEECHES

Following Barone, District Attorney Jason Schmidt gave his closing statement.

While Barone’s hour was uninterrupted by the prosecution, Schmidt’s was much longer, totaling more than three hours, with numerous objections raised by the defense.

Schmidt said it was his duty to “present the evidence” to the jury and reach a verdict. “It’s not about emotions here. … Your job is to be as objective as you can,” he said.

He started with the dry erase board facing the jury, where he wrote a timeline of events.

According to testimony given by Jamestown resident Brian Peterson, he left Blake’s home around 9:55 p.m. the night of the fatal shooting. This appears to be confirmed by a traffic camera showing Peterson traveling through Jamestown five minutes later.

At 10:03 p.m., Richard called 911 and told police he shot Blake.

Richard had initially told police that he was asleep when Blake attacked his room because it was a mess, hit him with a shotgun, causing it to break, and a fight ensued.

Peterson’s testimony was that he heard Richard and Blake arguing and told Blake that he wanted Richard to leave the house because he had “cut off his guns.”

Peterson also testified that he heard an explosion upstairs before Blake became angry.

Schmidt surmised that Blake found the broken gun while he was upstairs, Richard’s bedroom door was kicked in, and the two began yelling at each other.

During Richard’s testimony, he said he stabbed Blake when he entered his room, but Peterson said Blake did not appear injured when he came downstairs yelling that he wanted Richard to get out of the house.

Schmidt argued that Richard did not stab Blake until Peterson left.

Schmidt also came up with a new theory about the stabbing. He noted that the cut on Blake’s shirt and the location of the stab wound appeared to appear to have been lifted before Blake’s shirt was stabbed. He used the example of players lifting each other’s jerseys when a hockey fight breaks out to confuse them.

Schmidt said he believed Blake and Richard got into a physical altercation when Richard pulled his shirt and stabbed him.

Schmidt also argued that he believed Richard shot Blake after he stabbed him, and that he believed Richard shot him on the porch and not in the house as he told police.

To add theory to the evidence, he stated that some blood and other body parts were found outside and that the majority of the bird pellets fired from the gun were not found in the house.

Richard first told police that Blake went downstairs to get the loaded shotgun, and as the two fought, the gun went off, killing Blake.

In another version, Richard told police that he took the gun out of Blake’s hand downstairs and shot him because it looked like Blake was going to grab another shotgun lying on the couch.

Schmidt attempted to cast doubt on this theory by suggesting that, according to Richard, Blake would have put away his guns while Blake’s daughter was at home and had just been picked up by Peterson.

Peterson also testified that he did not see a gun on the couch when he was there a few minutes earlier.

Schmidt said he believed that after Richard shot and killed Blake, Richard returned to the house, took a gun from the closet and placed it on the couch to make it look like Blake was trying to grab that gun when Richard shot him.

He noticed that the gun on the couch contained Blake’s blood, and claimed that Richard had accidentally transferred some of Blake’s blood onto the gun when he placed the gun on the couch.

Throughout his recap, Schmidt obtained various photographs as well as Blake’s T-shirt, which contained the bullet hole and the hole from the stab wound.

Schmidt also retrieved pieces of the broken shotgun and argued that if Blake had actually hit Richard, Richard would have been seriously injured, especially if he hit him with enough force that the gun broke.

During the round-up, Schmidt picked up the barrel of the broken gun and dropped it on the ground. He said earlier in the day that wasn’t his intention, but at that point he dropped the barrel on purpose.

Schmidt said he sometimes does this to show that intentionality is not pre-planned but still done with a purpose. He argued that Richard’s actions were intentional when he shot and killed Blake.

After Schmidt’s closing statement, the jury was sent home for the day. They will return Thursday morning and be instructed by the judge to begin deliberations.