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Buju Banton .After Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton had a conversation about drugs with a government informant he met on a plane, it triggered a series of meetings and phone calls about buying and selling cocaine, according to testimony from the informant and recordings played in Banton’s federal drug trial.

Banton and the informant, Alexander Johnson, met on a plane from Spain to Miami at the end of Banton’s European tour last summer.

Johnson testified Sept. 21 that they began talking about drugs early in the flight.

“He told me he was involved in the transportation of drugs from Venezuela to St. Martin,” Johnson said. “His involvement was he moved money himself for traffickers out of England.”

They exchanged phone numbers and agreed to meet the next day in Fort Lauderdale. Recordings of that July 27, 2009, meeting and other phone calls and conversations from July 2009 through December were played in court Tuesday.

“Do you have any contacts where I can get cocaine?” Banton asked Johnson in one recorded conversation.

He told Johnson he wanted to give him money so he could buy and sell the drugs – but the singer did not want to be more involved.

“All I do is finance,” Banton said.

The four-time Grammy nominee is on trial in Tampa federal court on charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine and carrying a firearm during the course of a drug trafficking crime and aiding and abetting two co-defendants in possessing a firearm during the course of cocaine distribution.

Banton and Johnson discussed a variety of enterprises over several meetings in restaurants, such as selling drugs in Europe, having Banton finance a drug deal, buying drugs from Colombia and the Caribbean island of St. Martin, using Johnson’s boat to transport drugs, and giving Johnson a cut of a drug deal.

Banton’s attorney, David Markus, says those conversations turned to drugs only after the men were drunk.

“You talked about [Banton] doing a lot of things that he did not do,” Markus said while cross-examining Johnson.

The men also made small talk while driving to an undercover police warehouse in Sarasota on Dec. 8, according to another recording.

Johnson admonished the singer for smoking. Banton replied, “I smoke herbs, man. A lot of ganja.”

Banton also complained, according to the recording, about a gay rights group that had protested over violent, homophobic lyrics from early in his music career. Shows in several U.S. cities last year were canceled because of the protests.

“They’re pushing me, man,” he told Johnson. “These guys are trying to run me under.”

Johnson also testified that Banton introduced him to Ian Thomas, a co-defendant, who the singer said had contacts to sell cocaine.

A video played for the jury of the meeting at the Sarasota warehouse with Johnson and an undercover police officer appeared to show Thomas opening a kilo of cocaine, with Banton peering over his shoulder. Thomas then appears to hand the knife he used to cut open the drugs to Banton, who tasted the drugs with a finger.

Also in the video, Johnson and Thomas negotiate the price and quantity of a shipment of cocaine.

Thomas pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine. He faces up to life in prison.

DancehallEurope Dancehall Community
#BLOODDIAMONDS , HOW BOUT THAT AS TRENDIN TOPIC? #COKESMUGGLA OR THAT ONE? #FAKERASTA OR THAT ONE? BUNCH A WAGONIST, UNU NUH RIGHT JAHKNO
29 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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DancehallEurope Dancehall Community
STRANGEST FEELINGS IM FEELING, BUT ME ALWAYS WILL STAY SMUGGLIN AN DEALIN CAH ME GREEDY, DO U MAY THINK MY FAITH IS IN VAIN, TILL SHILOH …
36 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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DancehallEurope Dancehall Community
I GUESS BEEIN AN ARTIST MAKES UP FOR IT ALL DONT?
37 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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DancehallEurope Dancehall Community
UNU PEOPLE NUH RIGHT, IF IT WAS ANY OTHER MAN THEN BUJU UNU WUDDA BAWL FI EXECUTION AN LYNCHMOB DID WAIT PON D ACCUSED ONE..
38 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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DancehallEurope Dancehall Community
WATTADAY, DEM ABOUT TO SET A GUN CARRYING, COKE DEALING/TRAFFICING, BLOODDIAMOND SMUGGLA FREE, AINT THAT SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE EEH?

PEOPLE UNNO JUS AS DISAPPOINTED AS MISELF MI ASK FEW PEOPLE WHEY SHUDDA KNOW DEM DID HEAR DI SED TING SUH FI NOW MEK WE WAIT TILL DEM COME BACK FROM LUNCH

DEM SEH GAYS INA MASK OUTSIDE A EMANCIPATION PARK A PROTEST??????? IS WHA REALLY A GWAAN INA JA??? UNNO NUH HAVE NOTHING FI DO WID UNNOSELF DIS MAWNIN ????????

Tense wait for Buju

Jury to resume deliberations this morning

BY PAUL HENRY Observer staff reporter [email protected]

Friday, September 24, 2010

TAMPA, USA — Jurors will this morning continue deliberations in the closely watched Buju Banton trial following their failure yesterday to reach a verdict after four hours in the jury room.

The jurors retired at approximately 12:40 pm Florida time, after receiving final instructions from Judge Jim Moody, marking the start to an anxious afternoon period for the artiste and his fans.

Pray for Buju, fans plead 1/1

The anxiety was further heightened when at 4:40 pm it appeared the jurors were returning with a verdict.

“We should pray now,” said one supporter.

“We did that already,” another informed him.

To the disappointment of the nervous supporters, which included family members of the artiste, the jurors were only seeking further instructions.

The jury — which now consist of 13 members after one of the two African-American women had to be excused because of ill-health — will continue deliberations at 9:30 am.

Following yesterday’s adjournment, David Markus, the lawyer for the 37-year-old Banton, whose given name is Mark Myrie, said the team remained hopeful.

“It’s hard to say what is going on in there,” Markus said in reference to the deliberations among the jurors. “We just have to stay optimistic.”

In the meantime, Banton’s supporters at the court late yesterday afternoon called on fans worldwide to pray that the jurors would return a not guilty verdict.

They have asked that fans read Psalms 23 and 27 in addition to offering up prayers.

“We are just asking everybody all over the world to pray for Buju’s freedom and stay optimistic,” Hopie Miller, head of Magic Productions, said outside the Gibbons US Court, where the trial has been in progress since Monday.

If convicted, Banton could be sentenced to life imprisonment or slapped with millions of dollars in fines for the charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and illegal possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a crime.

The Jamaican international Reggae artiste was arrested at his Tamarac, Florida home on December 10 last year, following the arrest of former co-accused Ian Thomas and James Mack, who had been in possession of the firearm for which Banton was jointly charged.

Thomas and Mack have since pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in November.

Thomas, who is the godfather of two of Banton’s children, was set to give evidence on behalf of the defence yesterday morning but the entertainer’s legal team decided not to call him.

“We felt we had it without him,” Markus told the Observer during a short break after informing the court of the decision not to call Thomas.

Before the jurors retired yesterday, Markus, in his final argument, told them that his client was innocent and asked that they return a not guilty verdict.

“Ladies and gentlemen, he is not guilty. Mr Myrie is not a drug dealer. Please, please find him not guilty,” Markus said.

“Because he was at the warehouse when the drugs were being inspected does not mean he is guilty of the charge against him,” Markus added.

Markus argued that the Government had not proved its case against Myrie and pointed to the testimony of the Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Daniel McCeaffrey that despite investigating the artiste for a year he could find no evidence against him. Markus also painted US Government informant Alexander Johnson as a “master manipulator and con man”.

“To him this was a pay day. This guy was looking for his jackpot. This is how he makes a living,” Markus said.

But lead prosecutor Jim Preston countered Markus’ claims by telling the jurors that Myrie was “neck deep” in the conspiracy to distribute cocaine and said it was his actions that caused Mack and Thomas’ arrest. Preston said Thomas was brought into the deal by Myrie.

During his address to the jury, Preston on several occasions walked over to Myrie and pointed at him for emphasis.

“Based on the evidence, the Government has presented its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Preston said while urging the jurors to return with a verdict which says, “Buju Banton, guilty as charged”.

Judge Moody, in his summation to the jury, instructed them that not because Banton was on the spot when the contraband was being inspected meant he was guilty of conspiracy. He instructed them to carefully weigh the evidence of a convicted person or a paid government informant because they may have a motive to give false statements.

Johnson has been paid $50,000 for his work on the Banton case and has been a paid informant since his conviction on drug-trafficking charges in 1996.

The judge also informed the jury that their decision had to be unanimous to stand and instructed them that in cases of entrapment they had to find Myrie not guilty if he was not previously willing or if it was because a Government agent enticed him.

Banton, following the judge’s instructions, turned around, with hands clasped, and motioned to his supporters that they should pray for a favourable outcome.

Banton’s lawyers have been claiming that he artiste was entrapped by the Government and Johnson, whom he consistently referred to as a con man.