Was Buju Banton Set Up?

Buju Banton has been sentenced to ten years in prison.

Buju's friends, family and fellow artistes had all pleaded with the court for leniency but to no avail, as the Judge handed down his sentence earlier today.ÔøΩ

As Gargamel gets set to begin his sentence, MNI Alive revisits a piece we did previously exploring whether Buju was set up. See feature below:

Jamaica's international reggae superstar Buju Banton's sentencing date is set for June 23, after a Tampa Federal Court last month found him guilty of two drugs charges and one firearms charge. He could be facing up to 15 years in prison.

But despite the fact that the American legal system found Buju guilty, there are many misgivings about whether or not Buju is actually guilty or was set up. During Buju's first trial back in 2010, a jury could not decide if he was guilty, forcing the sitting judge to declare a mistrial. Clearly, for the jury to have such difficulties the first time around, it shows that the prosecution did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt, despite their alleged strong body of evidence against Buju.

Buju was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, using a telephone in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, and possessing a firearm during the course of a drug deal.

The Buju Banton many people know is one of the most conscious reggae artistes there is. Him winning a Grammy, in 2010, for Best Reggae Album in a very competitive field is evidence that his work is not just recognised in Jamaica and the Caribbean but internationally.

The facts of Buju's case suggest that he was befriended by what we now know to be a US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) informant who persuaded him to take part in a drug deal. According to Buju's version of events, he only went along to impress the informant, who lured him by claming to have some very impressive music industry connections. The prosecution themselves at trial acknowledged that Buju did not put any money into the drug deal nor did he make any money whatsoever from it.

Does that not say something? If Buju was so keen on this drug deal and was such a big time drug dealer, as the prosecution would like to claim, then would he not have been investing some of his money in it? Why would Buju go into a drug deal with a man he just recently befriended and expect to gain from it if he himself did not put funds towards the drugs transaction?

Additionally and according to reports in the press taken from Buju's testimony, the DEA's informant basically pestered him after they met on a flight in July 2009, insisting that they meet again towards setting up a cocaine purchase. According to Buju, he had little interest in the informant's requests to set up a deal and after meeting him twice he virtually ignored the informant's phone calls for months.

What is troubling to many persons about Buju's case is the system used by the DEA, which many are saying falls nothing short of entrapment. Particularly so, as the DEA's informant collected a handsome US$50,000 commission after the bust. It leads observers to question whether the US justice system's tactics quest for high conviction rates in drugs-related cases is so in demand that evidence gathering is put out to the highest bidder.

We know that the dreaded world of drug dealing is filled with questionable characters, the ever-present threat of gun violence that can quite possibly lead to death and an adherence to secrecy that is strictly enforced. ÔøΩ

Is it not plausible to assume that Banton may have gone along with this informant because he genuinely feared for his life after realising he had 'big talked' himself too far in? After all we are not talking about a man with a known history of criminal indulgence but rather a very successful and well-respected international reggae recording artiste. Buju had no need to deal drugs.

Now some believe that if he is not guilty then why did he taste the drug as was captured on video? That again could possibly go back to the argument made earlier that Buju feared for his life at the point where he realised that he was too far in to back out, so he decided to go along with the expectations of the informant so as to appear legitimate.ÔøΩ

The DEA wanted to make an example out of someone and who better to do it to than a hugely popular reggae-recording artiste. Buju Banton became a victim of his own success. There are quite possibly some questionable decisions made by Buju to even take this informant on in the first place but to convict him in such a highly unfashionable manner has no doubt lead many to believe that Banton was quite possibly set up.

What do you think?

Jeevan Robinson is Editor-in-Chief of MNI Alive. He can be reached at jeevan@mnialive.com