Anthony "Rob" Taglianetti II is appealing his 2013 second-degree murder conviction of Clymer School Superintendent Keith Reed Jr. P-J file photo by Eric Tichy

The appeal of a second-degree murder conviction for a Virginia man who shot and killed a Clymer school superintendent in September 2012 will be decided by the Fourth Department Appellate Division.

Rochester attorney Donald Thompson spoke Tuesday on behalf of 49-year-old Anthony “Rob” Taglianetti II. The former Woodbridge, Va., man was convicted in November 2013 for the killing of Clymer Superintendent Keith Reed Jr.

Reed, 51, had been reported missing by colleagues and friends on Sept. 23, 2012. Early the next morning, Chautauqua County sheriff’s deputies returned to the Clymer residence with a K-9 unit and, after a short search, discovered Reed’s body about 100 feet from his home.

According to the prosecution, Taglianetti became enraged after discovering an online affair between his wife, Mary, and Reed in August 2012. Driving 350 miles from his home in Virginia to Clymer, Taglianetti searched for Reed at Clymer Central School before shooting him at his home on Sept. 21, 2012.

Thompson argued before the Fourth Department Appellate Division on Tuesday that Chautauqua County Court erred in not allowing Taglianetti’s attorneys to enter a notice of intent to provide a mental health defense. Taglianetti was represented at trial by Public Defender Ned Barone.

“The lower court completely failed to exercise any discretion concerning the belated filing of the 250.10 notice, noticing the intention to present a mental health defense,” Thompson said during oral arguments.

Article 250.10 includes the notice of intent to offer psychiatric evidence; examination of defendant upon application of prosecutor.

Judges asked Thompson if any evidence was presented at trial that would have supported a defense of extreme emotional distress. The attorney said because the county court would not accept the filing, the defense was precluded from presenting such evidence during the 10-day trial.

Chautauqua County Assistant District Attorney John Zuroski spoke on behalf of the state. He noted that Taglianetti’s own “calculated behaviors” leading up to and immediately after Reed’s murder “left no real true possibility a defense of extreme emotional disturbance.”

“The defendant’s movements were tracked so meticulously,” Zuroski said, noting that Taglianetti went to the Clymer school and posed as someone looking for a teaching application in order to gain access. “Then finding out where he lived, then staking out where he lived, then shooting the victim at that address.”