Jury selection begins this morning in McKean County Court for the homicide trial of Bradford businessman Stephen Stidd.

Stidd, 65, of East Main Street, is accused of shooting his former son-in-law, Melvin Bizzarro, on Jan. 16, 2015, behind Togi’s Restaurant.

Stidd’s attorneys, Greg Henry and James P. Miller, have maintained the shooting was in self defense.

Stidd is incarcerated in McKean County Jail, held without bail since April 18 despite numerous attempts from his attorneys to garner his release.

L. Todd Goodwin and Bobbi Jo Wagner, attorneys with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office, are prosecuting the case.

The trial judge is Senior Judge John Cleland. The trial is scheduled to last until Oct. 31.

The case has been complicated from the beginning. The defense has never denied that Stidd pulled the trigger, but they assert the action was done in self-defense against a man who had assaulted him in the past.

Stidd had been charged shortly after the shooting, but the case was dismissed at the preliminary hearing by District Judge Dominic Cercone on Feb. 24, 2015, who held that Stidd acted in self defense. The case was referred to the attorney general’s office for continued investigation and to explore the possibility of refiling the charges.

On March 26 of that year, a state police lab report was issued, indicating the round remaining in Stidd’s gun had misfired. That round had the word “MEL” carved into it, police said. Upon further investigation, police learned that Stidd had received his license to carry a firearm 20 days before the shooting, the criminal complaint indicated.

State police interviewed people who knew both Stidd and Bizzarro, including someone who said Stidd had told him in the past that he had “something for” Bizzarro while patting his pocket where his gun was kept, the criminal complaint read.