Mitchell Ruble was read his Miranda rights, arrested, handcuffed and interrogated during a three-hour video presentation shown to jurors in Common Pleas Judge Randall Burnworth’s courtroom Tuesday afternoon.

The video was taken in September 2014 when Ruble, a former Washington County deputy, was arrested and charged with the murder of deputy Lt. Ray “Joe” Clark on the night of Feb. 7, 1981.

The prosecution has indicated that the killing was a reprisal after Ruble was dismissed from his job as a county deputy in 1979 for threatening a burglary suspect. Ruble allegedly blamed Clark for his dismissal as Clark wrote up a report on the incident and gave it to then-Sheriff Richard Ellis, who terminated Ruble’s employment with the department.

Tuesday is the second time the video has been presented during a jury trial. Ruble’s first trial in October of last year ended with a hung jury, so prosecutors requested a re-trial which began with selection of a new jury last week.

“I have nothing to say because I was not involved,” Ruble said on the video to Washington County Special Deputy Bruce Schuck and detective Jon Jenkins with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Ruble continued to maintain his innocence throughout the presentation, noting he had said the same thing during interviews pertaining to Clark’s murder over the years with former Washington County Sheriff Bob Schlicher and deputy Larry Stephens.

“Bob Schlicher and I had this conversation … I said you’re barking up the wrong tree, I had nothing to do with this and no knowledge of it. And the evidence is circumstantial at best,” Ruble said in the video. “And the statement I gave Larry Stephens was the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.”

During the video interrogation Schuck told Ruble that investigators had obtained evidence in the form of a military-style bootprint found on the grounds outside Clark’s Dodd’s Run Road home just outside of Marietta where the deputy was killed by a shotgun blast fired through the kitchen window.

Schuck also noted there were several witnesses who said they saw Ruble riding in a blue Ford Pinto on Dodd’s Run Road the night of the murder.

Schuck added that another former deputy and key witness in the case, Bob Smithberger, had told investigators that he had driven Ruble to Dodd’s Run Road in the Pinto that night and Ruble, armed with a shotgun, had exited the car near Clark’s residence.

“I understand you have evidence, and we’ll have to work through that during a trial,” Ruble told Schuck in the video. “And I have to look at the possibility that there was some mistaken identity.”

But Schuck reiterated that there were multiple witnesses who saw Ruble in the Pinto.

“And how could Bob Smithberger be mistaken when he said you were sitting in the car right beside him?” Schuck asked.

Smithberger testified again on Monday that after returning from an Army Reserve drill in Grantsville the night of the murder, Ruble had unexpectedly shown up at his house and asked Smithberger for a shotgun that he had received from Ruble.

He said Ruble was drunk and told Smithberger to drive him to Dodd’s Run Road where Ruble got out of the car near Clark’s home with the shotgun. Later Smithberger picked Ruble up along Gilman Avenue where he alleged Ruble threatened to kill him if he said anything to authorities about the incident.

Although he could have been charged as an accessory, Smithberger was granted immunity from prosecution as long as he told authorities the truth and he was not the shooter.

On the video shown Tuesday, Jenkins asked Ruble what should happen to the person who killed Clark.

“That’s up to the judge,” Ruble said. “Murder is murder. It’s serious, and there’s no getting around it. But you have your job to do and we’re just going to have to go through this. This is a mess at best.”

Ruble has remained in the county jail on $2.5 million bond since his Sept. 16, 2014 arrest. He viewed the video along with the rest of the court during the trial Tuesday.

Andrew McClelland, forensic scientist with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, also testified Tuesday about tests on the shotgun allegedly used in the murder as well as the shell, #4 buckshot lead pellets and fragments retrieved from the scene.

He said the firearm, a 12-gauge shotgun, was test-fired 16 times and the firing pin and breech of the gun were closely examined after the firings under a high-powered microscope.

The suspect shotgun was presented as an exhibit during Tuesday’s session, along with a shotgun shell found at the scene. The shell was passed around for examination by members of the jury.

Although the tests showed characteristics consistent with the operation of a 12-gauge firearm, McClelland said the tests could not confirm that the shell found at the murder scene was fired from the shotgun allegedly used to kill Clark.

“But you also can’t say the shell was not fired from that gun,” said Special Prosecutor Joel King.

“Yes, that’s correct,” McClelland answered. “We can say the shell was ejected from a firearm, but we cannot determine if that shell was fired from this shotgun.”

A testimony from the shotgun’s current owner, Gerald Brannon, recorded during the October trial, was also played for the jury Tuesday.

Brannon said his wife had purchased the gun from Ruble in 1983 and gave it to Brannon for his birthday.

He noted the firearm had been modified with camouflage paint on the stock.

Brannon also said the shotgun had interchangeable barrels, a short barrel for firing slugs during deer hunting, and a longer barrel that could be used for bird or smaller game hunting.

Brannon said he turned the shotgun over to Detective Lt. Jeff Seevers with the Washington County Sheriff’s Cold Case Unit for use during the murder investigation.

“Bob Smithberger said he had seen the gun that he thought belonged to Ruble, but the gun was camouflaged, and it was in the hands of one of Mitch’s military buddies,” Seevers told the jury Tuesday.

He asked Brannon, who had served with Ruble in a military reserve unit, for the shotgun.

“It was then given to BCI who determined the shotgun did belong to Ruble,” Seevers said.

Seevers also testified that Ruble had felt his termination from the department by Sheriff Ellis was excessive, and that Ruble felt should have been suspended for a few days instead.

In addition, Seevers noted Ruble once told former Sheriff Schlicher that drinking wine “made him do crazy things.”

“(The sheriff) said his heart dropped because he knew Mitch was drinking wine the night that Clark died,” Seevers said.

Defense attorney James Burdon asked Seevers if investigators had searched the blue Pinto that Smithberger said he was driving the night of the murder. The vehicle allegedly belonged to Ruble’s wife.

Seevers said the car was not searched, and no license number was taken.

“Some described it as blue, some as dark blue,” Burdon said. “Some said it was a Pinto, and some a (Chevy) Vega.”

Burdon also asked Seevers about a tire impression was taken from the Dodd’s Run Road area near Clark’s home, and asked if investigators compared it to the Pinto in question.

“It was never determined to be from the car owned by Ruble’s wife,” Seevers said.

The defense also noted that Ruble had never given any indication during the investigation that he had murdered Clark.

“Did he ever say anything other than he did not have anything to do with the killing of Lt. Clark?” Burdon asked.

“No,” Seevers answered.

The trial continues in Judge Burnworth’s courtroom at 9 a.m. today.