Dec. 23—ANDERSON — An Anderson man who was freed after being accused of a 2016 murder has been sentenced to 17 years in prison on a drug dealing charge.
Tywaine Perry, 25, 2200 block of Fulton Street, was convicted recently on charges of dealing a narcotic drug, possession of a controlled substance and unlawfully carrying a handgun.
Perry committed the crimes while out on bond after a 2023 arrest by Anderson police on felony charges of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, possession of cocaine, resisting law enforcement and possession of marijuana.
Madison Circuit Court Division 6 Judge Mark Dudley sentenced Perry on Friday to 17 1/2 years in prison on the dealing charges with 10 years to be served.
Dudley sentenced Perry to three years probation on the charge of criminal recklessness.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the July 2022 case, police were dispatched to 23rd Street and Arrow Avenue after a report of guns and a suspicious vehicle.
When officers arrived, they saw a single gunshot fired from a vehicle, which failed to stop when police pursued it. Officers found the car wrecked and abandoned in the 2700 block of West 25th Street.
Inside the vehicle, officers reported, they found paperwork with Perry’s name, a pistol and a spent shell casing, marijuana, cocaine and a controlled substance.
The owner of the vehicle told police that Perry was the last person to use the vehicle.
In the 2016 murder case, Perry was arrested in 2017 and charged with shooting Carlson Conn to death and wounding Marcus Prickett.
Charges of murder and attempted murder were dismissed by the state after a first trial ended in a mistrial and a second ended in a deadlocked jury. The state dismissed the charges in 2022.
He had spent 18 months in the Madison County jail on the murder and attempted murder charges.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.