Buju awaits destiny - Reggae icon's drug case begins today
Published:Monday | September 20, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
Jamaica's reggae superstar Buju Banton's hit single Destiny will echo across the world this week as he faces the court on charges that could see him spending many years in a United States prison.
But his lawyers are expressing confidence that at the end of the trial, which is slated to last for just over one week, Buju will be found not guilty and cleared to resume his musical career which has been on pause since his arrest last December.
Buju, whose real name is Mark Myrie, is slated to appear in the US District Court in the Middle District of Florida this morning to start answering charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms (11 pounds) or more of cocaine and possession of a firearm during the course of a drug-trafficking crime.
Hoping for the truth
Two other men who were charged with Buju - James Mack and Ian Thomas - have already entered guilty pleas and could testify against him.
However, that has not shaken the confidence of lead attorney David Oscar Markus, who told The Gleaner that once the two men tell the truth, Buju will be cleared.
"If they tell the truth, they will say that Buju was not part of this deal. We are just hoping they tell the truth," Markus told The Gleaner.
"Buju is innocent and he wants the court to hear that he is innocent," Markus said in response to questions on why Buju did not also seek a plea deal with the American prosecutors.
No proof on videotape
According to Markus, he intends to prove to the court that Buju was never a participant in the drug buy, which prosecutors claim to have recorded on videotape.
"When the deal was being done, Buju was at home. The videotape does not prove that Buju was a drug dealer," Markus said.
Prosecutors have alleged that law-enforcement agents received information from a confidential source that Buju and his associates were in the Sarasota area of Tampa, Florida, and wanted to purchase several kilograms of cocaine.
According to the prosecutors, Buju agreed to meet with a confidential source who was outfitted with audio- and video-recording equipment.
The prosecutors further claim that Buju and Thomas met the source at a restaurant before travelling to another restaurant where they were shown a quantity of cocaine.
"After viewing the cocaine, Myrie (who allegedly used his tongue to test the drug) and Thomas continued to negotiate with the confidential source for them to obtain multiple kilograms of cocaine," the prosecutors claim.
It is further alleged that the next day, Thomas contacted the confidential source and continued negotiations about obtaining 15 kilograms of cocaine.
On December 10, Thomas and Mack allegedly travelled to a facility where they presented a large quantity of money and were given a bag containing seven kilograms of cocaine.
At the time they were arrested by law-enforcement agents, a handgun was reportedly found in a secret compartment of the vehicle they were driving.
US Drug Enforcement Administration agents subsequently arrested Buju, who was not at the scene at the time the drug deal was being completed.
Markus has since charged that the confidential informant was paid more than US$3 million over several years to assist American law-enforcement agencies.
Buju's lawyers further claim that the informant has already earned, but not been paid, US$35,000 for his role in the case against Buju.
"The lengths the government will go to create crime, when no crime existed, is depressing. Do we really want to be paying criminals millions of dollars to ensnare innocent hard-working men?" Markus told The Gleaner.