April date for Buju

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/April-date-for-Buju

David Markus, the attorney representing embattled Reggae singer, Buju Banton, says the artiste’s trial has been pushed back to April and will not start by next month as was anticipated.

Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, has been in Florida jail since December and is facing drug and conspiracy charges, in that state.

According to Markus the case was re-scheduled to ensure that it continues without a break.

“It has been pushed back because there were so many conflicts. The prosecution’s agent will be having a baby in March and April 12 is the only date convenient for all parties,” Markus told Chat!.

Banton was arrested at his Tamarac home in South Florida after Federal Agents accused him of negotiating with undercover agents to purchase five or more kilograms of cocaine at Sarasota in Tampa, Florida.

The agents claim to have footage showing the artiste tasting cocaine in a Federally controlled warehouse.

Markus could not confirm reports that prosecutors will be trying to bolster their case against the artiste by flying in witnesses from Jamaica to testify against him.

“The prosecution is not obligated to show a witness list and they have not shown us one,” Markus said.

The postponement of the start of the trial means Banton will have to spend another month in jail, as he opted to waive his right to a bail hearing. If Banton made bail he would immediately be re-arrested by US immigration authorities who have revoked a travel waiver he used during his extensive US tour last year to promote his album, Rasta Got Soul, which was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Markus, who had earlier this year stated his intent to apply for the immigration detainer to be lifted, said it may not be possible to make the application just yet.

“We have not been able to make that application and we may have to wait till the trial begins before we can try to do that,” he said.

Markus intends to prove to that the US Government entrapped his client into purchasing cocaine and had used a paid informant to inveigle him for almost a year.

Markus also intends to get the prosecutors  to reveal the name of the paid informant and how much he was paid to trap the artiste.

Buju Banton A Victim Of Entrapment?

http://www.dancehall.mobi/2010/01/26/buju-banton-a-victim-of-entrapment/

Dancehall.Mobi news update – the plot has thickened in Buju Banton’s conspiracy to distribute cocaine case. According to court papers that were filed today in Tampa, Florida, Banton’s defense team may use an entrapment defense. According to Wikipedia, in criminal law, entrapment is when a law enforcement agent induces a person to commit an offense which the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit.

In the court papers filed today, Banton’s defense reportedly states that the ‘confidential source’ [see the affidavit for details] who helped authorities to investigate Banton, had pestered him for months to join him in a cocaine deal. As a result of this, the defense is asking a judge to order prosecutors to disclose the identity of the confidential source, an individual whom Myrie reportedly met on flight from Madrid to Miami in July 2009. They allege that the confidential source is a “paid government informant.”

Today’s court papers stated: “During the long international flight to Miami, the confidential source (CS), after softening up Mr. Myrie with small talk, began discussing cocaine. Throughout the flight, the CS tried to interest Mr. Myrie in buying cocaine. Mr. Myrie, however, was not interested.” The CS they say, kept in touch with Banton, and relentlessly pressured him to sell cocaine. Some of the conversations were apparently recorded, and the defense states that the recordings captured Banton’s “repeated attempts to put off” the source. “Finally, on December 8, 2009, the CS was successful in convincing Mr. Myrie to meet with him. Just to make sure Mr. Myrie attended, at 12:50 p.m. the CS called Mr. Myrie. However, the tape of the call reflects Mr. Myrie did not want to meet. Nonetheless, according to the complaint, Mr. Myrie attended the meeting at 2:29 p.m. at an ‘undercover warehouse.’ At this preliminary meeting, the CI showed Mr. Myrie and a co-defendant a brick of cocaine. Mr. Myrie then went back to Miami.“

Two co-defendants continued to meet with the source, and the co-defendants were arrested when they met the source in a warehouse. From the court papers filed today, Buju Banton’s lawyers are seeking information about the source’s prior criminal record, and how much money the source was paid for his help in this case and others.

Banton continues to be held without bail in Federal custody in Florida.

 

 

Buju Banton Affidavit

http://www.dancehall.mobi/2009/12/15/buju-banton-affidavit/

United States District Court – Middle District Of Florida – Tampa Division – Criminal Complaint & Affidavit – Mark Anthony Myrie (aka Buju Banton), Ian Thomas and James Jackson Mack (aka Spencer Clarke)

 

 http://www.dancehall.mobi/buju-banton-complaint-affidavit.pdf 

 

Buju arrested on cocaine charge in Florida

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Buju-arrested

Buju arrested on cocaine charge in Florida 

BY VERNON DAVIDSON Executive editor

Sunday, December 13, 2009

THE United States Drug Enforcement Administration (USDEA) yesterday confirmed that reggae artiste Buju Banton is now in a Florida lock-up after being charged with intent to distribute cocaine.

Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, was held on Thursday, Florida DEA information spokesman David Melenkevitz told the Sunday Observer.

"Mr Myrie was arrested on a case based in Tampa. He is charged with intent to distribute cocaine, five kilos or more," Melenkevitz said. "Right now he's in custody in South Florida and he'll be transferred to Tampa."

Asked when the transfer would take place, Melenkevitz said he couldn't give a date, only that it would be "in the near future".

Melenkevitz also said he did not know the circumstances that led to the deejay's arrest. However, he confirmed that the arrest was not made at an airport.

Banton has been in the United States since September promoting his new album Rasta Got Soul.

His arrest comes almost two months after he rejected demands from gay activists in California that he promote respect for homosexuals via his music and at a town hall meeting.

The gay lobbyists also demanded that he donate the proceeds from his anti-gay anthem Boom Bye Bye to local gay group Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays (J-FLAG).

But Banton told local talk show host Mutabaruka on his Cutting Edge show on Irie FM in October that he could never endorse the demands and that he would never sell himself out as that would contradict his religion and culture.

He also said that the night after he met with the gay lobbyists his tour concert was pepper-sprayed.

Since then, the Rasta Got Soul Tour, which opened on September 12 in Philadelphia and was scheduled to end November 1 in Orlando, Florida, has been fraught with problems, as gay rights advocates have forced a number of cancellations.

For almost two decades Banton has been a target of gay rights groups angered by his music, particularly Boom Bye Bye, which they point to as promoting the murder of homosexuals.

Last week, one gay rights group protested the Grammy nomination of Banton's Rasta Got Soul announced two weeks ago.

The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Centre described the nomination as "appalling" and voiced the hope that the recording academy would "not bestow the prestigious honour of a Grammy on someone whose music promotes murder".

"We're shocked that Buju Banton, a singer with a long record of performing a song that glorifies the murder of gay people, would be honoured with a Grammy nomination, regardless of the artistic merit of any of his work," the centre said on its website.

Yesterday, Melenkevitz said that Banton would be prosecuted by the US Attorney for the Middle District of Florida.