NORTHAMPTON - Despite last-ditch efforts by his lawyer, an Amherst man convicted of drug trafficking was sentenced Thursday to a mandatory minimum 3-year prison sentence.

A Hampshire Superior Court jury in July found Alexander Nunez, 30, of 760 Riverside Drive, Apt. G., guilty of trafficking cocaine and carrying a firearm without a permit, but acquitted him of the charge of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building.

Nunez's lawyer, Colin Keefe, had argued the trafficking conviction wasn't supported by the facts. In an interview Friday, Keefe said he plans to pursue a new trial.

Police arrested Nunez Aug. 15, 2010, after witnesses implicated him in the firing of a handgun outside the Silk City Tap Room in Florence hours earlier. Police said they found the gun in Nunez's car, which was abandoned at Florence Heights.

When police caught up with him in a wooded area outside his apartment in Amherst, they found a bag containing 20 grams of cocaine and $80 in cash on the ground near him. Keefe said the case should have been split in two, with one trial for the gun charges and a second for the drug charge.

"In my opinion it was prejudicial to allow both cases to be tried together," he said.

James F. Lowe can be reached at jlowe@gazettenet.com.