A rural Stuart man was found guilty late last month, of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon. According to online-court documents, and a report cited in the Guthrie Center Times, it took a jury just under two-hours to reach their verdict on August 24th, following the four-day trial for 48-year old Martin Edward Mock.  Mock reportedly approached and then unjustifiably pointed a loaded semiautomatic handgun at Nick Paardekooper of Redfield, in December, 2010.

Paar-dekooper and a group he was with were engaged in a “group hunt” for whitetail deer in a location where they had received permission to hunt. Mock approached Paarde-kooper and challenged his authority to be there.  The jury found that after refusing to accept Paardekooper’s explanation of having received permission to be there, or his offers to leave, Mock pulled a loaded handgun on Paardekooper and pointed it at him.

Mock is scheduled to be sentenced on October 8th.