Rick Couch / News Editor

It took a Greensboro jury only 40 minutes of deliberation to return a guilty verdict in Tremaine Cannon’s drug trafficking trial Tuesday morning.

Officers attempted to apprehend Cannon on May 13, 2005 when Greensboro police and drug task force officers came to his home.

Assistant district attorney Andrew Arrington said Cannon’s arrest was part of a widespread operation by the Greensboro Police Department to rid the area of dealers.

“They had been watching the area for a while and they were able to tag Cannon as a dealer,” Arrington said. “When they obtained a search warrant and went to arrest him they found him sitting on his front porch.”

From there, Cannon fled the scene on foot, dropping a red bag as he ran. Arrington said Greensboro police recovered the bag and discovered it contained about 39 grams of crack-cocaine. In Alabama, Arrington said, it takes 28 grams to be considered trafficking.

The district attorney’s office needed only four witnesses, one of which was a rebuttal witness, to prove their point. As it turned out, the defense’s only witness seemed to hurt their case more than it helped, Arrington said.

William Edwards was called to the stand to testify on behalf of Cannon, but the jury found his testimony not to be credible.

Another witness, Arrington said, was called because he claimed to have been with Cannon on the day in question. However, records soon trumped his testimony.

“We called William Grice to the stand because he said he was with Cannon the day they tried to arrest him in Montgomery to pick up his cousin,” Arrington said. “We did some research and found out that Grice was stabbed that day and he was in the hospital.”

As far as testimony, Arrington said, the odds were clearly in favor of the prosecution.

“It really was a matter of who they were going to believe,” Arrington said. “We’re they going to believe Cannon or the four police officers who were there that day to arrest him.”

Cannon’s bond was revoked. He will be sentenced at a later date.

Tuesday’s prosecution, Arrington said, was part of a widespread plan to fight drug dealers in the area.

“This is the first if many drug distribution cases we plan to prosecute in Hale County,” Arrington said. “If you intend to run drugs, you are going to do time in jail.”

District Attorney Michael Jackson echoed Arrington’s sentiments.

“We are going to keep shipping these drug dealers off to prison,” Jackson said.