MONTPELIER, Vt. – A Canadian citizen has been convicted a second time of trying to smuggle 3 1/2 pounds of marijuana into the United States almost two years ago.

On Friday, Real Gagnon, 57, was convicted in U.S. District Court in Brattleboro after a two-day trial.

Last year, he was convicted of similar charges in Vermont District Court in Guildhall, but a judge ordered a new trial because Essex County State’s Attorney Vincent Illuzzi made an improper comment during his closing argument, Illuzzi said on Monday.

Illuzzi said after the judge ordered a new trial that he was unwilling to try Gagnon a second time and the case was turned over to federal prosecutors.

Gagnon was arrested in December 2004 as he tried to enter the United States at the tiny border crossing Beecher Falls with the marijuana in the trunk of his car.

Gagnon, of Wales, Maine, faces a maximum of five years in prison.

He is free on conditions pending sentencing, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Masterson.