Lawyers for Buju Banton claim that the government set
up Buju Banton, by using a paid informant.
According to court documents filed on Tuesday January 26, 2010
Buju Banton’s defense attorneys David Markus Marc and David
Seitles claimed that the government entrapped the singer, because
the informant pressured Buju to purchase the cocaine.
According to the document filed in the court: "The informant was
clearly an active participant in the entire chain of events."
Defense attorneys David Markus is pushing to have the informants
identity revealed, because his credibility or lack thereof, could send
Buju Banton to jail for the rest of his life.
The singer allegedly met the informant on a flight from Madrid, Spain
to Miami, Florida, in July of 2009. The informant allegedly spent the
next three months trying to purchase the cocaine.
While citing several legal precedents, Buju's lawyers have also asked
the court to direct the prosecution to release all reports that contain
the confidential source's alleged conversations with Buju that were not
taped or video recorded, and the report(s) summarising what the source
claimed were his unrecorded conversations with Buju when they were
on that flight.
“In addition to refusing to disclose the identity, the government
has refused to identify the prior cases in which he has been involved,
the outcomes of those cases, the amount of money he has earned
making cases for the government, or even the amount he has been
paid (or expects to be paid) in this case," the court papers read.
Although he was not present in the warehouse that was used in the
sting operation when the others were arrested, the DEA claims they
have audio and videotaped evidence of Buju Banton testing a package
of cocaine.
Buju Banton has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is being held in
Pinellas County Jail in Tampa, Florida, without bail. He is slated to
return to court on February 4, 2010 for a status conference before the
trial begins in the week of March 1, 2010.
