MAYVILLE – A Chautauqua County jury is struggling to reach a verdict in the trial of an Ellicott man charged in the death of his stepfather.

At around 2pm on Friday, the 12-member group sent a note saying they were “deadlocked” in the trial of Tucker Richard, 20, who shot and killed Scott Blake on January 6, 2023.

The trial began on October 21, after four days of jury selection. Deliberation began on Thursday and continued on Friday.

At the time of the notification, Judge David Foley said it was too early to declare the trial over. “They haven’t had this case for what I consider to be a significant amount of time,” he said in court before the jury was brought back.

Richard was charged with second degree murder. Foley told the jury before it began deliberations that it could consider the lesser charge of criminal homicide if it finds Richard not guilty of second-degree murder.

When the jury returned to the courtroom, Foley asked them to continue deliberating. “It is not uncommon for a jury to initially have difficulty reaching a unanimous verdict,” he said.

Foley encouraged them to review the facts of the case with a fresh mind to see if the evidence leads to the suspect being guilty or not. “Make every effort to give a fair and just verdict.” he said.

When the jury sent in the memo, they deliberated for about six and a half hours, total, over two days.

They continued until around 4.40pm when they asked to break for the weekend.

During deliberations Friday, the jury requested 27 different photographs for further review, as well as some of the testimony of Dr. Tara Mahar of the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office to be read back. They specifically asked when he discussed the stab wound discovered on Blake’s body.

Her testimony took about 15 minutes to read.

They also asked the judge to revisit the definitions of second-degree murder, criminally negligent homicide and the term “initial aggressor” referring to self-defense.

The defense disagreed that Richard killed Blake, however they argued that he did so out of fear for his own life.

During the trial, the defense argued that Blake kicked in Richard’s bedroom door, hit him with an unloaded shotgun, causing it to break, at which point Richard stabbed Blake. Blake then ran to get another gun, and Richard grabbed it from him and shot him after Blake tried to retrieve a third gun from the couch.

The prosecution argued that Richard could have “cut” Blake’s gun, which caused Blake and Richard to get into a shouting match. They then claim Richard pulled Blake’s shirt over his head, stabbed and shot him at close range outside the house.

They also claim Richard took another gun out of a closet to stage the scene so he could say his stepfather was trying to get another gun to shoot him.

The prosecution based its arguments on the hole where Blake’s shirt was cut and where Blake was stabbed, as well as the lack of birdshot recovered from inside the house.

They also note that Blake’s blood was found on the gun on the couch.

The jury will resume deliberations on Tuesday.