In the end, it was the Branden Ore movie, not the Tony Majette movie, that the jury believed.

There had been two days of testimony and arguments that told two stories -- differing movies, Public Defender Larry Shelton said -- of how Majette and Ore, the star Virginia Tech tailback, came to be stopped in a Cadillac carrying a dealer-level load of crack cocaine.

There had been more than 4¹₂ hours of apparently agonizing jury deliberations, with jurors announcing they were deadlocked and the judge telling them to keep trying.

And finally, on Thursday evening, there was a verdict: Majette was guilty of possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute it. When he is sentenced, he will face 10 years to life in prison.

It was a case and an outcome similar to many in federal court. What set Majette's trial apart was the involvement of Ore, who was brought to the witness stand a week after an Orange Bowl performance that was one of the game's few highlights for the Hokies, who lost 24-21 to Kansas.

The defense said Ore had the motive and opportunity to hide two bags of crack that police discovered the evening of June 5, 2006. Ore took the stand Wednesday to deny it.

The trial presented two narratives. Among the few points of agreement was that the incident began with Majette driving a silver Cadillac that belonged to his girlfriend. Ore was in the front passenger seat. There were four tires in the back seat.

According to Ore, he was riding along to see tires similar to some Majette had bought. Shelton, who represented Majette, said the two actually were on their way to buy marijuana for Ore.

They passed several police cars parked at a house on Blacksburg's Roanoke Street. Majette, whose driver's license was suspended, quickly headed around the block. A patrol car followed.

Ore said the lights and siren panicked Majette, who pulled a plastic bag from his pocket and tossed it into Ore's lap. Ore said he wanted no part of it and pushed it aside.

Shelton emphasized that Blacksburg officer Michael Czernicki, who stopped the car because he thought it was driving erratically and its windows were tinted too dark, testified he turned on his lights just before he pulled in behind Majette and Ore on Lee Street. Shelton said Majette could not have tossed anything after the lights came on because Czernicki and other officers were too close and would have seen it.

Majette was arrested for driving with a suspended license. Majette's girlfriend picked up Ore and took him to get his own license so he could drive the car away. While Ore was gone, police found the crack, one bag between the passenger's seat and the door and the other on the floor behind the passenger's seat. In total, there was about 23 grams of crack, an amount authorities said exceeded personal use.

When Ore returned, he and Majette were taken to Blacksburg's police station. There, Ore wrote out a statement about Majette flipping the bag to him.

Accounts of Majette's own interview with police differed.

Blacksburg police Sgt. Anthony Wilson testified that Majette accepted responsibility for the drugs. Shelton argued his client gave a more defiant reply that basically challenged police to charge him. There was no documentation of the exchange.

There was corroboration, however, that Majette asked to become an informant. He ended up telling officers about a local drug dealer -- though nothing that led to an arrest.

Majette's short cooperation with police ended in late 2006. He was jailed on a separate drug charge on which he had been convicted weeks before he and Ore were stopped.

One of the trial's few witnesses besides Ore and police was Anthony Lamont Long, the man whom Shelton said Ore wanted to buy marijuana from and also the dealer about whom Majette later told police. Brought from jail, Long testified he bought and sold drugs with Majette, but knew Ore "only from the TV."

Shelton called Long's testimony worthless. He said police were reluctant to charge a football star and urged the jury not to be "misled by the government's view of Branden Ore as some sort of innocent."

"We'll never know what happened in the car," responded Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Bassford. "... We just know the drugs were there and we'll have to decide for ourselves."