Buju waits

tampa, Florida (AP):

A Florida jury adjourned yesterday without reaching a verdict in reggae star Buju Banton's drug trial.

The 12-person jury in Tampa federal court will reconvene today to continue deliberating whether the singer conspired to buy cocaine from an undercover police officer in a Sarasota warehouse last December.

Buju, whose real name is Mark Myrie, is charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and aiding two others in possessing a firearm during the course of cocaine distribution. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

The singer testified that he talked a lot about cocaine with a United States government informant, but he was only trying to impress the man, who claimed to have music industry connections.

The informant, Alexander Johnson, is a convicted cocaine smuggler who has earned US$3.3 million working for US law enforcement. He testified that Buju admitted involvement in drug trafficking, and that he surprised the singer with cocaine at the warehouse on December 8.

The singer was not present two days later when two co-defendants, Ian Thomas and James Mack, tried to buy the drug.

Focused on career

In closing arguments yesterday, Buju's attorney said Johnson only managed to connect Thomas and Mack to the conspiracy.

Thomas told Johnson in a December 9 telephone call that Buju "does not want to do nothing" and was focused on his music career, the singer's attorney, David Markus, told the jury. On December 10 at the warehouse, surveillance video shows Thomas telling Johnson that Mack was "the boss".

What Johnson did do was entrap Buju, whom he met on a flight from Madrid to Miami at the end of the singer's European tour in July 2009, Markus said.

"He played upon the career of Mr Myrie. He told him he could help him," Markus said. "Johnson used his persuasiveness and tricked him into that warehouse without telling him about the cocaine."

Assistant US Attorney James Preston argued that Buju's conversations with Johnson put the conspiracy into motion.

In surveillance video from December 8 in the warehouse, played for the jury, Banton is seen listening to Thomas negotiate with Johnson about the price for the cocaine.

"You name the price," Buju is heard saying.

"Words can be enough," Preston said. "The words put it into play."

Thomas and Mack pleaded guilty. Neither testified in the trial that began on Monday.