Three co-defendants being held in Butler County Prison will be taking their drug case to trial.

Mandi L. Gipson, 32, of Butler, was arrested along with Vakie Ionic Knight, 27, and Quendell Mauri Owens, 25, both of Philadelphia, on Oct. 26 in Gipson's Old Plank Estates apartment in Butler Township. Police raided the apartment after an investigation into drug distribution, according to Detective Timothy Fennell of the Butler County District Attorney's Drug Task Force. The group investigated the apartment on Old Plank Road and led the raid with assistance from Butler Township Police.

The three face identical charges of two felony counts of manufacture, delivery or possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, one felony count of criminal conspiracy, two misdemeanor counts of possession with intent to deliver, and use/possession of drugs. They are all being held in jail on $100,000 bonds.

The defendants each have their own lawyer, and jury selection will begin Thursday. The lawyers will have nine opportunities to reject the selected jurors if they want to, according to Assistant District Attorney Ben Simon, who is prosecuting the case. Simon estimated that the trial will take a total of two days.

“Right now, they don't want my offer, so we're proceeding to trial,” Simon said, noting that he has never tried a case with three defense lawyers.

Simon said that although the three are scheduled for jury selection on Thursday, the process might be postponed since there are other cases that are also moving to trial. But Judge Timothy McCune notified the defendants' lawyers Wednesday that jury selection for their clients would be held Thursday.

“That gives them some more time to reconsider my offer, but right now I have them on track for trial,” Simon said.

According to court documents, police found 24 grams of crack cocaine, four stamp bags of heroin and 12 capsules of what they believed at the time was heroin during the raid. Investigators estimated the value of the alleged crack cocaine at $2,000. The capsules later tested negative for heroin and were likely colon dietary supplements, according to previous court testimony.