Buju Banton Appeal Case Dismissed

Category: USA Connect Created on Thursday, 09 February 2012 03:59 Written by Zaheera Blake

Reggae artiste, Buju Banton, has seen his appeal against his conviction for drug trafficking dismissed by the United States government.

According to  the Associated Press, the US Government said there was sufficient evidence to support his conviction in June of last year of three counts of drug trafficking and conspiracy charges.

Buju's lawyers filed an appeal in a Georgia appeal court last year claiming that the US government acted illegally by failing to bring Buju to trial before 70 days. This, they said, is a violation of the US constitution’s Sixth Amendment.

The AP reported that Federal prosecutors filed their response last Friday in Atlanta’s federal appeals court. In their response, prosecutors noted that “Banton’s words and actions, in recorded conversations and a videotaped meeting in a Sarasota, Florida, warehouse where Banton tasted some cocaine, revealed the singer ‘eagerly brokered’ a drug deal between a friend and undercover government agents.

Banton’s, whose real name is Mark Myrie, was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison in a federal court in Tampa, Florida.

The Grammy winning singer is serving his term at the Federal Correctional Institute in Miami. He maybe eligible for parole in six years.