SMETHPORT — She was only on the witness stand for a few minutes, but the testimony of Melanie Bizzarro made a big impact Friday in the homicide trial of her grandfather, Stephen Stidd, for killing her father, Melvin Bizzarro, in January 2015.

The young woman, the now-21-year-old daughter of Mel and Michelle Bizzarro, was called to the stand by defense attorney Greg Henry, who asked her how old she was on Jan. 16, 2015, the day of the shooting behind her family’s restaurant, Togi’s in Bradford.

“I was 17,” she said.

“I want to ask you a few things about the interaction between your father and mother,” Henry said. He spoke of two incidents in 2014, one of which he called “the remote episode.”

“We were sitting in the living room watching TV. My mother asked for the remote. My father grabbed her and shook her very violently,” Melanie Bizzarro recounted. “I got up and left the room.”

She said her mother had bruises up and down both arms in the aftermath.

“Was this type of episode common?” Henry asked.

“It was very common,” she responded.

In May 2014, she was getting ready for her senior music recital, she said. “My father had been gone for several days, which was very common.”

He went home and went to his bedroom — “he had his own bedroom in our house” — and her mother went in, too, and closed the door.

“All I heard was yelling and a big bang … a big, loud crash sound,” Melanie Bizzarro said. “I walked over to the door and my father opened it. He instructed me to go get an ice pack.”

She looked in and saw her mother, unconscious on the floor. When she came to, “she had bloody tears coming down,” the daughter testified. She added that her mother developed two black eyes, “she looked like someone had punched her in the face.”

Henry asked, “What kind of person is your mother?” She began to reply, “She’s very kind…” when prosecutor Bobbi Jo Wagner objected. Judge John Cleland sustained the objection.

“Did your father ever physically hurt you?” Henry asked.

“Not physically,” she said, adding, “I was terrified of my father.”

“Why were you terrified if your father never physically hurt you?” Henry asked.

“He was always threatening to hurt me,” Melanie Bizzarro replied.

On cross-examination, Wagner asked Melanie Bizzarro if the police were ever called for the incidents she discussed. They were not, the young woman replied.

After her testimony, Cleland called a recess. During the recess, Melanie Bizzarro joined the ever-growing ranks of friends and family members in court to support Stidd, waving to her grandfather and chatting with him across rows of benches for several minutes.

When court reconvened, one of the jurors had been excused. Cleland said only that she was excused for “personal issues unique to her.”

Also taking the stand were several police officers, state police Sgt. James Weaver, Trooper David Ray, Bradford City Police Chief Chris Lucco, former Bradford City Police Officer Rich Harsen, professional photographer Jay Bradish, forensic pathologist Dr. Eric Vey, who conducted the first autopsy on Mel Bizzarro; and Dr. Lawrence Guzzardi, a toxicologist.

Vey was the only witness Friday to testify on behalf of the prosecution. He explained his findings in Mel Bizzarro’s autopsy. Perhaps the most jarring thing Vey described was the speed with which Bizzarro “bled out.”

“As a result of the gunshot trauma, Mr. Bizzarro sustained a significant trauma to his heart,” Vey said. “There was significant internal bleeding. There were 2½ liters (of blood) lying in his chest cavity.”

The human body contains 5 liters of blood.

“His survival in this case was between 30 seconds and at most a minute,” Vey said, in response to questioning from Wagner.

Guzzardi talked about the toxicology reports from the two separate autopsies performed in the case, the one by Vey and another by Dr. Cyril Wecht.

“It’s uncommon to have two autopsies,” Guzzardi said. “Was Mr. Bizzarro impaired at the time of his death? That’s what I’m trying to determine.”

He talked a lot about the results that were found, echoing the testimony of Dr. Edward Barbieri earlier in the week. He also talked about the impact the drugs — including alcohol, cocaine and hydrocodone — likely had on Bizzarro.

“I would expect some degree of aggression,” Guzzardi said, saying the drugs “enhance your basic underlying characteristics. It lowers our social inhibitions to bad activity.”

Prosecutor L. Todd Goodwin asked Guzzardi how much he was being paid to testify. Defense attorney James P. Miller said he’d stipulate the total fee was $7,000.

Weaver and Ray were both on the witness stand very briefly, as Henry asked them to explain what prior witness Dale Sweetapple had told them when he was first interviewed. Both officers replied, showing that Sweetapple’s court testimony was different than what he had originally told police.

Lucco was briefly on the stand, and was asked by Henry if he’d noticed a head wound on Stidd on the day of the shooting.

“He had a bleeding wound on his forehead, and a somewhat disheveled demeanor,” the chief said. In response to questioning from Wagner, Lucco said, “I did not offer medical treatment, nor did he ask for medical attention.”

Harsen’s testimony was almost exactly the same.

Bradish was on the stand for some time, asked to authenticate numerous photos he’d taken of the crime scene.

The last witness of the day was Kevin Rhebergen, the delivery driver for Maplevale Farms, who was making a delivery at Togi’s at the time of shooting. On a trip back to his truck to get more goods to deliver, Rhebergen saw Stidd and Bizzarro arguing in the parking lot.

“It looked like Steve was trying to get along the (side of the parked) truck to the restaurant and Mel was moving in front of him,” Rhebergen said. He was walking back to the ramp of his truck to get his last load when he saw Stidd’s “shoulders go back, and his head goes back, and he tried to catch his balance, he took a step back. There had to be some kind of physical contact, some kind of impact. He was trying to back up to get away.”

He said he heard Stidd warn Bizzarro that he had a gun. Rhebergen said he didn’t want to get involved, so he kept walking to his truck and went up the ramp to get the last of the delivery. “I got to the top of the ramp and that’s when I heard the gunshot.”

He jumped down to see what had happened, and saw Bizzarro on the ground, and Stidd leaning over him as if checking his pulse.

“Steve was standing there totally dumbfounded,” Rhebergen said. “He said, ‘I warned him, he just kept coming at me.’”

He said Stidd was wiping blood away from his own forehead, and shortly thereafter, Bradford police arrived on the scene.

Henry asked Rhebergen if he believed Stidd could have gotten away from Bizzarro.

“Based on the size of Mel, and on the age (of Stidd), I do not believe (Stidd) could have outrun him in any direction. He couldn’t have gotten away from him.”

Henry asked, “And (Stidd) couldn’t have fought him off?”

“I don’t believe he could,” Rhebergen said.

Goodwin questioned Rhebergen extensively about prior testimony given in the case, and about his interviews with police and investigators.

Rhebergen said if his statements didn’t match, it was because the investigators confused him.

“It’s already been dismissed once,” Rhebergen said, referring to a preliminary hearing in February 2015 when District Judge Dominic Cercone dismissed the charges against Stidd.

“Objection,” Goodwin said.

Cleland just shrugged and denied the objection. The 50-or-so spectators on Stidd’s side of the courtroom laughed.

Rhebergen continued, “As far as I was concerned it was done. I wasn’t expecting to be here today.”

When questioning was completed, Cleland recessed for the day. He told the jury the trial may last until Wednesday of next week. Testimony will begin again at 9 a.m. Monday.