TAMPA – A co-defendant of Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton has agreed to cooperate with the government as part of a plea deal in his drug case. Buju Banton, a four-time Grammy nominee, is set to stand trial Sept. 20 along with another co-defendant, James Mack, on charges they participated in a cocaine deal in Sarasota.
When a co-defendant pleads guilty this is not a good sign for the other defendants. However, in this case, although the co-defendant, Ian Thomas may testify against Buju, he has signed an affidavit stating that he and Buju did not know each other prior to the arrest and, additionally, Buju had no knowledge of the money and gun that were in Mack’s vehicle. I truly hope this new revelation will shed some light on Buju’s innocence! Buju has been incarcerated in the Pinellas County Jail in Tampa, Florida since December 2009 and has been beleaguered by trial date push backs ever since. What happened to the idea of a speedy trial?
The third co-defendant, Ian Thomas, will plead guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 5 kilos or more of cocaine, according to an agreement filed today. The charge carries up to life in federal prison.
Eight days after the scheduled start of the trial, Banton’s record company is set to release his ninth studio album, “Before the Dawn,” in the United States. The album was recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, before his arrest in December.
“The album’s unofficial anthem, ‘Innocent’ strikes a highly personal chord that will resonate deeply with longtime fans,” according to a press release from Gargamel Music Inc.
Banton, 37, has been held without bail since his arrest on charges of conspiring to distribute cocaine and aiding and abetting his codefendants in possessing a firearm during the course of the cocaine distribution.
Still, Banton was “heavily involved” in assembling the album, “from choosing the final track listing and laboring over the phone with the producers and engineers to get the mixes just right, to conceptualizing the project’s distinguished packaging,” the press release states.
The album will contain “a special note written from inside the Pinellas County Jail” where Banton “has been patiently awaiting trial for the past nine months,” the release states.
Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, claims he was entrapped. An informant involved with the case has been paid $3.3 million working with law enforcement over several years, including more than $35,000 in the case against Banton.
“Paying a convicted drug trafficker millions of dollars for setting up an innocent productive member of society is wrong,” Banton’s attorney, David Oscar Markus, said in an e-mail to The Tampa Tribune. “The prosecution’s star is laughing at all of us he doesn’t pay taxes, he stopped paying the mortgage on his million dollar house, he doesn’t pay his credit cards, and he gets to stay in this country even though he committed crimes here as an illegal immigrant. We’re hoping the jury will see through his charade.”
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