TAMPA, Florida The jury has broken their deliberations for lunch and the courtroom closed in the trial of Reggae singer Buju Banton. The jury will return for their deliberations at 1:00 pm or 12:00 pm Jamaican time.
On the 5th floor of the Gibbons US Court here in Tampa, Buju Banton's supporters prayed and held hands, while his longterm friend and fellow entertainer Wayne Wonder broke out singing the embattled artiste's popular hits of the nineties including 'Serious' and 'The Stone Love Anthem'.
"The tension is too thick," a supporter told the Observer.
Buju is being held in a holding area until the verdict is read.
If convicted, the artiste, real name Mark Myrie, could be sentenced to life imprisonment or slapped with millions of dollars in fines for the charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and illegal possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a crime.
He was arrested at his Tamarac, Florida home on December 10 last year, following the arrest of former co-accused Ian Thomas and James Mack, who had been in possession of the firearm for which Banton was jointly charged.
Thomas and Mack have since pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in November.
TAMPA, Florida Jamaican Reggae singer Buju Banton will have to wait until Monday to know his fate as the 13 member panel of jurors have yet to come to a decision.
The jurors are expected to resume their deliberations at 8:45 Monday morning.
Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, has been in jail for nine months and 14 days after being hauled out of his Tamarac home in South Florida on December 10 last year, two days after his co-defendants Ian Thomas and James Mack were held during a drug bust at a police controlled warehouse in Saratoga, Tampa.
Both signed plea deals and agreed to testify against Myrie in exchange for lesser sentences. However, none of the two took the stand as Mack pleaded the fifth amendment and neither the prosecution or the defence found Thomas' testimony to be of any assistance to their case.
Two weeks ago Mack signed an affidavit saying he never knew Myrie until after his arrest and that the artiste had no knowledge of a firearm and US$130,000 that was found in a Honda motorcar he was driving.
Myrie was reportedly offered a two-year prison term but refused. He has consistently maintained his innocence and claimed that he was entrapped by Government informant, Alexander Johnson.
TAMPA, Florida Jamaican Reggae singer Buju Banton will have to wait until Monday to know his fate as the 13 member panel of jurors have yet to come to a decision.
The jurors are expected to resume their deliberations at 8:45 Monday morning.
Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, has been in jail for nine months and 14 days after being hauled out of his Tamarac home in South Florida on December 10 last year, two days after his co-defendants Ian Thomas and James Mack were held during a drug bust at a police controlled warehouse in Saratoga, Tampa.
Both signed plea deals and agreed to testify against Myrie in exchange for lesser sentences. However, none of the two took the stand as Mack pleaded the fifth amendment and neither the prosecution or the defence found Thomas' testimony to be of any assistance to their case.
Two weeks ago Mack signed an affidavit saying he never knew Myrie until after his arrest and that the artiste had no knowledge of a firearm and US$130,000 that was found in a Honda motorcar he was driving.
Myrie was reportedly offered a two-year prison term but refused. He has consistently maintained his innocence and claimed that he was entrapped by Government informant, Alexander Johnson.