DancehallUsa Online Magazine Official Website

The defence team representing jailed entertainer Buju Banton says it has dug up more dirt on the informant who helped United States (US) federal agents build a drug case against the reggae artiste.

A report in the Tampa Tribune newspaper quotes Buju’s lawyers saying that the informant has been paid US$3.3 million for helping US law enforcement in numerous cases over several years.
Buju’s lawyers made the revelation in a Florida court on Thursday.

An attorney for the entertainer whose given name is Mark Myrie Buju Banton, whose real name is Mark Anthony Myrie, says he plans to argue that the singer was entrapped by the informant, who pestered him for months to join him in a cocaine deal.

Buju is being held without bail on charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine as well as aiding and abetting his co-defendants in possessing a firearm during the course of cocaine distribution.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has said in court filings that Banton contacted a confidential informant about a possible cocaine purchase.

The next day, Buju and other men met with the informant at a restaurant, where the DEA and local police had set up video and audio surveillance.

Defense attorney David Oscar Markus told U.S. Magistrate Thomas Wilson on Thursday that prosecutors have not provided enough information about the informant for him to be prepared to cross-examine him at Buju’s trial scheduled for April 19.

Mr. Markus outlined information that the government has given him about the informant that he was paid more than US$35,000 for his cooperation in the case against Buju Banton and is also paid on a contingency basis, receiving a portion of the money the judge orders the defendant to forfeit.

The informant was convicted in South Florida in 1993 of distributing cocaine in a case that brought a minimum mandatory prison sentence of 10 years.

He transported large amounts of cocaine and marijuana from 1984 to 1993 and is a legal, permanent resident of the US from Colombia.

It was also revealed that the informant is in involved in a tax dispute with the IRS.

He has also worked with the prosecutor in Myrie’s case for more than 10 years.

But Mr. Marcus says he needs more details, such as details about the tax case, information on other cases the informant has worked and specifics on his criminal history.

Buju, who has been one of the standard bearers for reggae music for more than a decade, made the declaration through his legal representative yesterday as he prepared for his first day in court.

“My client says he is absolutely innocent of each of the allegations that the government has made,” attorney-at-law Herbert E. Walker III.

Walker, who has been retained to represent Buju, said he was looking forward to the trial. “You can tell your readers that his defence team is working night and day to protect his interest as he vigorously and vehemently denies all of the allegations,” Walker added.

Buju has already spent five days in federal custody in the United States and remains in jail pending his court appearance today at a pre-trial detention hearing. This is when the US authorities will outline more details of the allegations against him and he will get a chance to apply for bail.

Already the authorities have claimed that they have audio and video footage of Buju and others making arrangements to purchase several kilograms of cocaine. But Walker said that will not prevent him from asking the court to release Buju on bail.

“It is a detention hearing and a sort of status update where the government will bring in all the evidence it has. It was set for last Friday but the government was not ready to proceed as they needed more time to get their evidence together,” said Walker.

He noted that under US law, it is the defendant who has to prove that he should be granted bail because with the serious nature of the charge there is what is called, “a presumption of detention”.

“But the fact of the matter is the court still has to make an individual determination as to whether to grant bail. It is our position that he should be granted bail because he is innocent and is looking forward to establish that in a court of law.”

Buju is slated to appear in the US District Court in the Southern District of Florida at 10 this morning.

After today’s hearing, the artiste will return to court on December 28 for a removal hearing where the trial will be switched from the Middle District of Florida to the Southern District.

The affidavit, against Buju and his two alleged conspirators was initially filed in the Middle District.

In that affidavit a special agent with the US Drug Enforcement Administration alleged that Buju and two others knowingly and wilfully conspired to possess, with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine.

The co-accused were identified as Ian Thomas and James Mack who were allegedly arrested in a sting operation when they attempted to buy cocaine. A firearm was also reportedly taken from a vehicle driven by one of the men.

Buju, who was not on the scene at the time of the drug bust, was later arrested on charges of dealing in illegal drugs and could spend more than 20 years in a federal prison if he is found guilty.