Cannaday was charged with robbery, kidnapping, and homicide in the state of Mississippi in 1982. Cannaday's trial began September 20, 1982. She, Gray, and Bushart were all tried separately. The jury found Cannaday guilty of murder and sentenced her to death by lethal injection on September 23, 1982. After an appeal, the Supreme Court of Mississippi affirmed the guilty verdict but held that the death sentence was inappropriate given the misuse of Cannaday's statement to the jailer, Cannaday's age, and the fact that Gray, who physically committed the murder, was sentenced to death himself. (Gray, a habitual offender, had his sentence later reversed to life imprisonment.) In 1984, Cannaday was re-sentenced to one life sentence and two twenty-five year life sentences. The state granted Cannaday parole in 2008.
