SMETHPORT — Three people testified this morning in McKean County Court, the first of roughly 50 witnesses expected to share their pieces of the story in the homicide case against Bradford man Stephen Stidd.
Stidd, 65, is accused of shooting his former son-in-law, Melvin Bizzarro, on Jan. 16, 2015, in the parking lot behind Togi’s Restaurant, owned by Stidd. Stidd’s attorneys have maintained the shooting was in self defense.
Providing testimony were Bizzarro’s father and two neighbors who heard the gunshot and saw Bizzarro’s body.
Bizarro’s father said Mel Bizzarro had been living with him, and his son went to Togi’s to talk to ex-wife Michelle Bizzarro about their son’s basketball game scheduled for that evening.
The trial is being held before Senior Judge John Cleland. L. Todd Goodwin and Bobbi Jo Wagner, attorneys with the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office, are prosecuting the case, and attorneys Greg Henry and James P. Miller represent Stidd.
Testimony will resume at 1 p.m. today.
