By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — He changed the oil and rotated his tires but Jonathan Ryan did not think to remove the licensed gun in his glove compartment before driving to New York to help his girlfriend move last year, he said Wednesday.
Ryan, a lifelong Floridian, told jurors Wednesday that he had been driving around with his handgun in full compliance with his state's laws for years. But before packing up for last year's roadtrip, his second-ever visit to New York City, it never occured to him to leave the weapon at home, he said after taking the stand during his trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Ryan had pulled over into a no standing zone in Manhattan while he tried to figure out the route to his girlfriend Ashley Shewey's Queens apartment last year when he was approached by police and ordered to show his registration documents, which he opened his glove box to find.
There, police spotted the revolver he said he forgot was packed away in the glove box of his 2005 Chevy Silverado. Police said they stopped him because he had just made a right turn on a red light at Park Avenue and 65th Street, which Ryan blamed on his not knowing the move was illegal in New York.
"Did you think about the gun at that point?" his lawyer, Mark Peterow asked.
"I was not thinking about the gun at that point, no sir, I was not," Ryan said.
Ryan was charged with two counts of weapons possession. He insisted he had never fired his weapon and only purchased it, legally, for protection.
"No sir. I have done nothing with that gun since it was placed in the glove compartment in October 2007," Ryan said on direct examination.
Ryan's lawyer argued he'd been trying to avoid Manhattan that night on his way to New York after almost a full 24 hours of driving to pick up his girlfriend, who was then a page at the Tonight Show.
His portable GPS led him astray. He was aiming to get through Queens via Staten Island and Brooklyn.
"Manhattan was not part of my travel plan that night," he said, adding, "As soon as I entered Manhattan I realized I was in pretty big trouble."
Prosecutors argued that Ryan's claim was hard to believe and added that ignorance is no excuse for lawbreaking.
"There are no exceptions for people who don't know the law because they're not from this state," Assistant District Attorney Erin Tierney said during her closing arguments on Wednesday after the two-day trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Ryan faces a mandatory 3.5 years in prison if convicted. The jury is expected to begin deliberations on Thursday.
