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

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

The defense continued its argument that the shooting was in self-defense, while the prosecution introduced new theories questioning whether Richard was ever in danger and claiming that Blake’s death was intentional.

CLOSING REMARKS OF THE DEFENSE

The day began with public defender Nathaniel Barone giving summations for his client.

Barone noted that the trial was never about trying 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. “I told you from the beginning that Tucker made the decision not to be a victim. Tucker made the decision to survive. Tucker made the decision to live. Tucker made a decision about what he thought he needed to do. He wasn’t going to die that night of January 6, 2023. He wasn’t going to die and he had every right to. He had every reason to take the rifle from Scott Blake,” he said.

Barone spoke for a little over an hour.

During his time, Barone criticized the way Richard was arrested, put in a police car barefoot and wearing pajama bottoms in the middle of winter, taken to the police station and given no medical attention, although it appears that Richard requested this.

Barone was also critical of lead investigator Kevin Pierce of the Ellicott Police Department, who Barone said determined the incident was not self-defense “within three or four minutes” of arriving on the scene . “You saw what Tucker looked like. Was this look planned for you?” he asked the jury.

Barone also noted that during questioning, Richard was asked if he considered leaving the house instead of shooting Blake. “Tucker didn’t have time to think about options. He didn’t have time to think about doing anything different. He was in a fight for his life. It is a fundamental right to fight for your life,” he said.

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

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

CLOSING REMARKS OF THE PROSECUTION

Following Barone, prosecutor Jason Schmidt gave his closing argument.

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

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

He began with a dry erase board in front of the jury, where he wrote down the 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 that shows Peterson traveling into Jamestown five minutes later.

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

Richard had initially told the police that he slept, that Blake charged into his room because his room was messy, hit him with a shotgun, causing it to break, and a fight ensued from there.

Peterson’s testimony was that he heard Richard and Blake arguing and that he told Blake that he wanted Richard out of the house for “cutting his guns.”

Peterson testified that he heard a bang upstairs before Blake became angry.

Schmidt surmised that perhaps while Blake was upstairs, he found the broken gun, hit Richard’s bedroom door, and the two started 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 to be hurt when he came downstairs screaming that he wanted Richard out of the house.

Schmidt claimed that Richard did not stab Blake until after Peterson left.

Schmidt also introduced a new theory about the stabbing. He noted that where the cut in Blake’s shirt was and where the stab wound was, it appeared that Blake’s shirt had been lifted before he was stabbed. He used the example of when a hockey fight takes place and the players pull each other’s jerseys to confuse them.

Schmidt said he believes Blake and Richard were getting into a physical altercation when Richard pulled his shirt and stabbed him.

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

To give a theory to the evidence, he noted how some blood and other bodily substances were outside and that most of the pellets fired from the gun were not recovered in the house.

Richard first told police that Blake went downstairs for the loaded shotgun and that while the two were struggling, the gun went off, killing Blake.

In another version, Richard told police he took the gun out of Blake’s hands downstairs and shot him because Blake looked like he was going to pick up another rifle that was lying on the couch.

Schmidt tried to cast doubt on this theory, arguing that according to Richard, Blake would put his guns away when Blake’s daughter was in the house 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 just minutes before.

Schmidt said he believes that after Richard shot and killed Blake, Richard returned to the house, took a gun out of the closet and placed it on the couch to make it look like Blake tried to take that gun when Richard shot him.

He noticed that the gun that was on the couch had Blake’s blood on it and claimed that Richard accidentally transferred some of Blake’s blood to it when he placed it on the couch.

Throughout his summary, Schmidt took various photos, as well as Blake’s T-shirt with the bullet hole and the hole from the stab wound.

Schmidt also picked up pieces of the broken shotgun and argued that if Blake had actually hit Richard with it, Richard would have been seriously injured, especially if he had hit him with such force that the gun – would have broken.

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

Schmidt said he did this to show that sometimes intentionality is not planned in advance, but still done with purpose. He argued that Richard’s actions were intentional when he shot and killed Blake.

After Schmidt’s closing statements, the jury was sent home for the day. They will return on Thursday morning where they will receive instructions from the judge and begin deliberations.