Following a three-day jury trial, a former Warren County resident was convicted Thursday of attempting to manufacture methamphetamine.

Robert Sherman, 37, whose address was 4407 Halls Ferry Road at the time of his arrest and now lives in Rankin County, was convicted of possession of precursor chemicals with intent to manufacture meth, Assistant District Attorney Lane Campbell said.

Circuit Judge Isadore Patrick set sentencing for Sept. 21. Sherman, who has a prior meth conviction, faces 30 years in prison, Campbell said.

Sherman was arrested Oct. 9, 2009, by Vicksburg police and Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics Agents. The agents found Sherman and another man, Calvin L. Brewer, 27, 320 Woodham Road, in a wooded area of the county attempting to manufacture meth in a 20-ounce Mountain Dew bottle, Campbell said.

“They actually failed the cooking process, and it failed to yield meth,” Campbell said.

Narcotics agents found the bottle, sodium hydroxide and pseudoephedrine ­— the key ingredient in the drug.

In July 2010, a state law went into effect requiring a prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine and the number of meth manufacturing cases plummeted, District Attorney Ricky Smith said.

“It’s made a big difference,” Smith said.

On the stand, Sherman said he had been fishing in a lake in the woods and was arrested because of a conspiracy between narcotics agents. Sherman was represented by attorney Al Rhodes who did not return calls for comment.

In October 2011, Brewer pleaded guilty to possession of precursor substances and was sentenced by Patrick to the Ninth Circuit Court Drug Court Program for a period not to exceed five years.