Bennie Gray Jr., who was back in prison on drug charges just a few months after he was paroled from an 18-year prison stint for manslaughter, is getting another chance at freedom.

The state announced Friday that it would not be prosecuting Gray in connection with his September arrest in Groton and entered a "nolle" in his case before Superior Court Judge Ernest Green Jr.

Gray had filed a motion for a speedy trial, and attorneys for the state and defense were scheduled to begin selecting jurors when the state decided to drop the charges.

"The state's reasoning was that they didn't want to disclose the informant," said attorney Gordon Videll, who represented Gray. Videll said he would be contacting parole officials to arrange Gray's release.

"Hopefully he'll be released within a week," Videll said. "The entire case was filled with reasonable doubt and we're glad the state decided to nolle it."

According to a police report, on Sept. 5, Groton Town Police and members of the Regional Community Enhancement Task Force spoke with "a person interested in providing narcotic-related information for law enforcement purpose." The person, identified only as "CW," or confidential witness, said Gray had been selling heroin and crack and that Gray had been "observed to carry a firearm in his waistband area on at least one occasion."

Gray, a New London native, had served 18 years of a 23-year prison sentence for the November 1997 shooting death in New London of DeJohn Strong. He was granted supervised parole on June 7, 2017, and was living with a relative in Groton.

Town Police arrested him on Sept. 5 at the Walgreen's pharmacy on Long Hill Road. The police report indicates that the confidential witness arranged to meet Gray in the pharmacy parking lot to purchase heroin. Gray was in the passenger seat of a car driven by a woman, Bobbi Jo Viger, and a woman named Rachel Mead was in the back seat, according to the report. The police said they found plastic bags containing 3.2 grams of cocaine and 1.5 grams of heroin on the driver's side floorboard next to the center console. Viger said she was driving Gray around in exchange for crack cocaine and had driven him earlier in the day to a meeting with his parole officer. She said she just picked him up at a Brandegee Avenue address.

"She stated that she did not know how the drugs got on the floor board, but that when the unmarked police vehicles were driving in the lot, Gray immediately yelled, 'Police,' and became nervous," according to the report.

According to Videll, Gray is enrolled in classes at Manchester Community College and had been tested for drugs and had none in his system.

k.florin@theday.com