Dancehall News And Articles

Embatted Dancehall star Buju Banton's lawyer still carry on the fight after the deejay's conviction. "I'm sick to my stomach over this opinion. I truly believe that a good man is in jail for talking a big game," attorney-at-law David Oscar Markus

Yesterday the appeal court confirmed his lengthy prison sentence and left open the possibility that Buju, Mark Myrie, could be granted a new trial but it also raised the prospect of his prison sentence being extended by a further five years. "I will continue to fight for him," said Markus, who has represented Buju since he was arrested in Miami in December 2009. Markus noted that while the appeal court has sent the matter back to the lower court to decide if Buju should be retried, it has agreed with the prosecution that he should have been given prison time for the presence of a firearm during the drug deal.

Just under a year ago, Buju was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offence and using a telephone to facilitate a drug-trafficking offence. The conviction carried a 15-year prison sentence but the judge in the court in Florida, James Moody, threw out the gun conviction, lowering Buju's sentence to 10 years.