MAYVILLE – The prosecution continued to introduce evidence in their case of People vs. Tucker Richard.

Richard, 20, has been charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of his stepfather Scott Blake on Jan. 6, 2023 in the town of Ellicott.

The trial began in Chautauqua County Court Oct. 21. Tuesday marked the fourth day.

Dr. Tara Mahar from the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office returned to the stand to be questioned by the defense. She had testified on Thursday, but was not cross examined that afternoon. The trial was not in session on either Friday or Monday.

On Tuesday, Mahar noted how she believes Blake was shot by an individual less than 4 or 5 feet away with a shotgun using birdshot. She made that determination from how spread apart the birdshot was in the deceased’s head.

Mahar said in her professional opinion, Blake would have died immediately from being shot in the head.

After Mahar, recently retired Ellicott Police Officer Terry Rea testified at the trial. Rea was working with the police department when Blake was killed. He was involved in transporting Blake’s body to the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office as well as viewing the autopsy. He was also responsible for transporting evidence collected from the medical examiner back to the police station.

Rea noted he had left the scene of where the shooting occurred around 6:30 a.m., arrived in Buffalo around 8 a.m. and had returned to the police department around 2 p.m. with the evidence in hand.

Another officer who testified was Michael Bergey with the Ellicott Police Department. In addition to being with the police department, Bergey is also a member of the Forensic Investigation Team.

At one point, Bergey left the scene where the shooting occurred to get Jessica Richard, Tucker’s mother.

Bergey handled much of the evidence, including logging and transporting the items.

There were a number of pieces of evidence that Bergey confirmed were from the scene of the shooting, including shotguns, shotgun shells, a cell phone, a folding knife, pieces of clothing, swabs taken at the scene, and fingernail clippings.

When Bergey discussed the cellphone, he noted they were able to access the call log after recharging it. A call was made to an outside area code, however he said that number was disconnected when they did their investigation and tried calling it.

A second call was made, according to Bergey, to Tucker’s grandmother.

After that, a 911 call was made.

During opening statements, Public Defender Nathan Barone said Richard, his client, was the person who called police to report the shooting. He stated at that time that Richard shot Blake in self defense.

The trial is scheduled to resume Wednesday morning.