BRATTLEBORO- David Boglioli took the stand in his second-degree murder trial Monday morning.

Boglioli, 60, of Wilmington, is accused in the shooting death of his Greenwich Road neighbor, 51-year-old George Riccitelli.

Boglioli claims he shot Riccitelli in self-defense when Riccitelli confronted him, carrying an ax handle, on the morning of August 15, 2008. At about 9:30 that morning, Boglioli said, he looked outside his window to make sure Riccitelli wasn’t outside before taking his trash to a dumpster located in the cul-de-sac. As he stepped off the deck of his small house and walked in front of neighbor Jill Embree’s house, Boglioli said he was aware that Riccitelli had stepped out from between two houses on the opposite side of the road. “He (Riccitelli) swung an ax handle, and the motion alerted me,” Boglioli said. “But I would have been aware of any motion. He had an ax handle, he swung it, and kept walking.”

Boglioli said he threw his trash in the dumpster, and heard Riccitelli say from behind, “I want you out of the house, and you have four days.” When he turned around, Riccitelli was three feet away from him, threatening him with an ax handle, Boglioli said. He demonstrated how Riccitelli held the ax handle over his shoulder, ready to swing, like a baseball bat. Boglioli said he pulled his gun out of his pocket, and Riccitelli told him to “go ahead and use your gun.”

“I pulled the trigger,” Boglioli said. “I felt George (Riccitelli) was going to use the ax handle. I was looking into his eyes, and the ax handle was coming.”

Boglioli said he carried his gun with him any time he was outside his house and on foot because he was concerned that Riccitelli might try to harm him. “I never carried it when I was riding with someone,” he said. “I had no need of it then.”

During testimony by expert witnesses from the Vermont Forensics Laboratory, prosecutors made much of a paper towel wrapped around the barrel of the gun. But Boglioli said he carried the gun in the front pocket of his trousers, and wrapped the end of the barrel with a paper towel to prevent the front sight from wearing a hole in his pocket.

In earlier testimony, Boglioli told the court how his relationship with Riccitelli had soured over the dozen years he had lived on Greenwich Road. Boglioli said he originally lived in “the big house,” belonging to Ken Willis, who he had known since his childhood. Eventually, a small house belonging to Willis became available, and Boglioli said he struck a deal with Willis for lifetime tenancy. Boglioli spent $13,000 of his own savings to fix up the place and, according to Boglioli, he was to live in the place at a fixed rent for the rest of his life. “I loved my house,” he said. “The only thing I loved more was my pets.”

It was while he still lived in “the big house,” Boglioli said, that Riccitelli “came around and ingratiated himself” with Ken Willis, eventually moving into the basement apartment at the house. Boglioli and Riccitelli got along in the beginning, and when Riccitelli wanted to learn to play drums, Boglioli, a former professional drummer, obliged.

But the relationship turned one day when Riccitelli asked Boglioli to pick up something for him when on Boglioli’s next shopping trip to Brattleboro. In jest, Boglioli said, he told Riccitelli that he’d have to pay for the service. “He attacked me,” Boglioli said. “He grabbed me and started punching me. He said ‘you’re laughing at me, you’re f---ing with me.’ I said ‘no, no, no.’ I was horrified.”

After that incident, Boglioli said, Willis and Riccitelli were unfriendly, and gradually began to harass him. At one point, he said, Willis and Riccitelli occupied the house across the road from Boglioli’s house, with Willis living on the ground floor and Riccitelli on the top floor. “George (Riccitelli) would come out on the deck and shoot a bb gun, a dart gun, a pellet gun, a slingshot, a .22 rifle, a bow and arrow, or just throw rocks at my house,” he said.

Boglioli also testified that there had been physical and verbal assaults by Riccitelli.

In response, Boglioli said, he became reclusive, and only went outside his home when he was convinced there would be no confrontation with Riccitelli. “I always made sure (Riccitelli) wasn’t there,” he said. “Sometimes I’d keep my trash three, four, five days, double and triple bagging it, until I could get to the dumpster when he wasn’t out there.”

Other witnesses testified about Riccitelli’s violent and unstable nature, and his reputation as “crazy George.” Lorenzo DeConnick, of Jamaica, said he hired Riccitelli for a short time about a decade ago. After that time, he said, Riccitelli confronted him on several occasions, and attacked him twice. In one incident, shortly after they first met, DeConnick said he was driving his truck when the back window exploded. Later he learned that Riccitelli had shot the window out – something he said Riccitelli confirmed. Another time, DeConnick was walking out of the 7-Eleven in West Dover. “I had hotdogs, for my dogs, in each hand, and the sun was in my eyes,” DeConnick said. “Suddenly I felt a shot in the face. I just saw white light. I was stunned. I put the hotdogs down on a trash container and sat on a picnic table. When I looked up, I saw George (Riccitelli) dancing around in front of the car.”

When Riccitelli fled the scene, DeConnick said he took off after him, but was convinced by his girlfriend to stop and report the incident to police. “I didn’t see it coming,” DeConnick said of the attack.