Little Hope for Buju

PROMINENT United States-based attorney, Professor David Rowe, says he has very little hope that reggae star Buju Banton's entrapment plea will hold up in a US court.

Rowe said the US revelation that the prosecution has video recordings of Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, tasting cocaine and participating in arrangements for the sale of contraband, will work against him in a big way.

"I see his chances as begin very low. He is on video offering cocaine for sale. I don't think the entrapment argument has a great deal of effort," Rowe told Chat!yesterday.

Banton was held in December last year by US Federal authorities at his Tamarac, Florida home and charged with conspiracy to distribute five or more kilogrammes of cocaine. This, following a sting operation at a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) controlled warehouse in Tampa, which resulted in the arrest of two other men who were about to purchase cocaine from undercover agents.

He has since argued that he was the victim of entrapment and his lawyer David Markos, has publicly said he intends to argue along that line when the trial involving Banton begins next month.

– Karyl Walker