Handing down a guilty verdict in the trial of John Gaddy, which concluded today in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court, Judge Ed Black said witnesses for both sides were being untruthful in their testimony.

Still, Black said, logic pointed to the guilt of Gaddy, a Saginaw man accused of pointing a gun at the head of an Alpena woman on Aug. 1.

Gaddy admitted he had a confrontation with the woman but denied owning or possessing a gun.

The trial began Wednesday but was halted abruptly when the victim, the prosecution’s primary witness, failed to show up to testify.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Police officers and court personnel prepare for the second half of a trial for John Gaddy in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court today.

After a warrant was issued for her arrest, the witness, Teresa Kortman, told the court today that Gaddy pointed a gun at her as she sat in a van’s driver seat. Kortman had been chasing Gaddy and another man because they stole her money, she testified.

According to other witnesses, the money was used to buy what turned out to be rock salt instead of the methamphetamine Kortman and another person were expecting. After telling police they’d been threatened with a gun, the young women were granted immunity from drug charges in exchange for their testimony against Gaddy.

Gaddy, who testified Wednesday, said he didn’t know he was part of a drug deal when he and his girlfriend gave the other man, 17-year-old Duran Lowe, a ride to Alpena.

Lowe pleaded guilty to a drug charge related to the incident. In exchange for a promise to testify against Gaddy in this week’s trial, Lowe was offered Holmes Youthful Trainee Act status, which would allow him to have the crime removed from his public record after completion of probation.

Lowe did not appear to testify, despite Saginaw police tracking him down late Wednesday night to order him to appear today. He will lose his HYTA protection.

The videoconferenced image of a police firearms inspector looming over him, defendant John Gaddy listens to testimony during a trial this week in Alpena’s 26th Circuit Court. Gaddy was found guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon.

According to testimony by witnesses from both sides, Kortman and then-16-year-old Aubrey Shepherd, who also testified, tracked the men down after the discovery of the fake drugs, trapping the men’s car in a parking spot at a local business.

When Lowe and Gaddy hopped a curb and drove away, Kortman followed in her van, ramming the men’s car near the intersection of U.S-23 South and Werth Road.

In another parking lot, Gaddy confronted Kortman, demanding she stop following the men and snapping off the key in Kortman’s ignition.

According to Kortman, Gaddy then pointed a gun at her for several seconds before returning to his car and leaving.

Kortman was making the gun up “to cover her own butt,” contended defense attorney Ron Bayot.

After the men left, Kortman and Shepherd called 911 to report Kortman’s money had been stolen. When officers pulled the men over, no gun was in the car, but a pistol matching the one Kortman said she’d seen in Gaddy’s hand was found on the roadside near the men’s car.

In his closing statement at the bench trial — in which a judge takes the place of a jury — Bayot cast doubt on the testimonies of Kortman and Shepherd, both of whom he called methamphetamine addicts not to be trusted to tell the truth.

Alpena County Prosecutor Cynthia Muszynski asked the court to consider who had the most motive to lie about the incident. Kortman and Shepherd gained nothing from accusing him of having the gun, she said, while Gaddy — for whom possession of a weapon would mean a parole violation and probable prison time — had everything to lose by admitting he had a gun.

Witnesses for both sides were very probably lying about at least part of their testimonies, Black said, but, “there’s no lying about the gun.”

It defied common sense, he said, to believe the gun on the roadside came from anywhere other than the men’s car — and, given all witness testimony, the most reasonable conclusion was that Gaddy did, indeed, threaten Kortman with it.

Gaddy’s sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

He faces up to four years in prison for the assault charge. He may also face penalties for possessing a firearm while on parole from the Michigan Department of Corrections.