SMETHPORT — Officials continued to tie up loose ends on Wednesday in preparation for the trial of Bradford man Stephen Stidd, accused in the shooting death of his former son-in-law.
Stidd was charged after Mel Bizzarro died of a gunshot wound to the chest on Jan. 16, 2015. His attorneys, Greg Henry and James Miller, have maintained that the shooting was in self-defense.
L. Todd Goodwin and Bobbi Jo Wagner, attorneys with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, are prosecuting the case.
The trial is set to begin Oct. 23.
A hearing was scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday in McKean County Court to resolve pretrial motions filed in the case. Counsel spend nearly two hours negotiating privately before Senior Judge John Cleland before the group convened in the courtroom, where Cleland issued an order.
In the order, Cleland gave the prosecution and defense until Oct. 18 to submit questions for the jury selection process. Also, he said all issues regarding the relevance of evidence will be decided at the time of trial, and hearsay statements discussed in the motions would not be admitted unless a satisfactory hearsay rule argument is presented.
Referring to the behind-the-scenes talks preceding the Wednesday order, Cleland said, “Of course, there’s been some discussion in chambers to place some of these rulings in context.”
He did not go into detail in the courtroom on the pretrial motions.
According to court documents, a motion in limine filed by the defense asks that a number of items be excluded as evidence.
These include interviews with two former employees of Stidd’s that mention statements Bizzarro’s wife “allegedly said about Melvin Bizzarro and about herself,” lab tests that searched for but did not find a specific substance, statements from multiple people who said Bizzarro told them Stidd threatened to kill him, 11 “inculpating and exculpating statements,” several autopsy photographs and estate and bank records pertaining to Bizzarro, his estate and his ex-wife.
Regarding incriminating statements Stidd allegedly made to a cellmate at McKean County Jail, the defense asked for the ability to bring up the cellmate’s past of “crimes involving dishonesty.”
A motion in limine filed by the prosecution asked a baggie of cocaine found in Bizzarro’s vehicle be excluded from evidence, according to the court document.
While Stidd faces a single felony charge of criminal homicide in the case, the possibility of involuntary manslaughter had been brought up in discussions with the judge, the motions indicate.
The prosecution’s motion in limine took issue with the jury being instructed on involuntary manslaughter when a self-defense defense is asserted, as the elements of involuntary manslaughter contradicts those of self-defense.
Involuntary manslaughter indicates a “grossly negligent or reckless act,” whereas the evidence “overwhelmingly indicates that the defendant intentionally committed the crime,” the motion stated.
Stidd remains incarcerated in McKean County Jail without bail.
