KOSCIUSKO — The trial of Scott Blevins was originally scheduled to last two days, but jury deliberations began around 5:30 pm today, Jan 30.

The state called four more witnesses to the stand this afternoon.

The first witness was the victim in the case. The victim testified that at the time of the incident 10 people were living inside one trailer, six adults and four children.

The victim went on to give a brief summary of the day’s events, which matched up with Deputy Prosecutor Brad Voelz’s summary. Blevins had become angry when his roommates said his wife didn’t need to accompany him on a walk to run errands. This altercation escalated, and Blevins slashed two tires of a vehicle sitting outside the trailer. The victim attempted to intervene and was sliced on his chest with a knife.

Six different photos were presented as evidence; two of the slashed tires and four of the chest wound.

It was brought up that the victim was convicted of theft – receiving stolen property in 2013. The victim did not admit to this conviction during the original deposition. The victim told the court he had forgotten about it.

Blevins’ attorney, Jay Rigdon, brought up the fact that the victim’s shirt was not torn or ripped during the altercation despite the chest wound. The victim further admitted that after the altercation, Blevins and his wife no longer lived in the trailer with everyone.

The victim was able to describe the knife used in the incident as having a black blade with a camouflage handle.

The state then called Kosciusko County Detective Shane Bucher to the stand. Bucher was called to the scene when the incident occurred and took the six photos previously presented as evidence.

Rigdon questioned why Bucher did not take any photos of the gravel area surrounding the car’s tires. Bucher replied that there were a lot of people walking over the area, including medics and officers, and that no footprints were identifiable.

Kosciusko County Lieutenant Rick Shepherd was then called to take the stand. He was the first officer on scene and initiated the arrest of Blevins, who he discovered near the front of the trailer park.

He stated that his responsibilities after the arrest included determining that the scene was safe for medics to arrive and helping search for the knife. In all, eight officers attempted to locate the knife but were unsuccessful.

The last witness called was another officer, Patrol Deputy Christopher Anderson. Anderson told the court that he was the officer to place Blevins in handcuffs and into a squad car.

Anderson testified that Blevins was acting strange while inside the car. “He was singing, humming, randomly talking about a bunch of things.”

At this point, both the state and defense rested their cases and closing arguments began.

Voelz’s closing argument concentrated on the fact that the victim’s summary of events matched up with what the police officers provided and testified.

“The evidence that you’ve heard from the stand today, from the victim, from the police officers, was uncontradictory.”

Rigdon concentrated on the lack of physical evidence during his closing statement. He presented the argument that the victim had a motive to lie about the events; there were ten people living in one crowded trailer.

“It’s pretty clear that they have a motive to get Scott Blevins out of the trailer and they had the opportunity to do it,” concluded Rigdon. “I am a little offended that our government would say ‘Hey, you’re acting a little funny, you must be guilty of a crime.’”

The jury received their final instructions and entered deliberation with two strong arguments to consider.