NORWICH – A Smithville man charged with illegally possessing a hand gun used in his girlfriend’s suicide was found guilty by a jury of his peers last week.

John Hadac, 44, Smithville, was found guilty Tuesday of the top and only count against him by a jury, and convicted of third degree criminal possession of a weapon.

“This is a very tragic sequence of events that should have been avoided and might have spared a distressed woman’s life,” said District Attorney Joseph McBride.

Chenango County Sheriff’s Office investigators testified in court that the defendant admitted to keeping the illegal gun in the house, unsecured and loaded. Just before the death occurred, the defendant was using alcohol when his girlfriend, allegedly distressed by the state of their relationship, took the firearm and killed herself. The incident took place in late January and police arrested Hadac on Feb. 13.