Judge blanks Buju's request to perform at concert. Meanwhile, his lawyers filed a motion to have the gun charge against Banton dropped.

A Boxing Day concert in Miami will have to go on without drug-accused reggae singer Buju Banton, even though hes been out on bail for the last two weeks.

Thats because a judge has turned down the Jamaicans request to perform at the December 26th show. 

His attorneys has argued that the reggae artiste is under financial strain, having to pay US$20,000 a month to a 24-hour security detail that was a part of his bail conditions, as well as the cost of preparing for his retrial next February.

However, US Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli said the singers financial pressures do not outweigh the risk that he might flee, and refused the request. 

Buju, whose real name is Mark Myrie, was released on bail on November 10th, almost a year after being arrested on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and aiding and abetting two others in possessing a firearm during the course of distribution.

The 37-year-old faces life imprisonment and a fine of up to US$4 million if found guilty convicted.

His first trial, which lasted a week, ended with a hung jury in September.

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Meanwhile, the lawyers representing Banton have filed a motion in court to have the gun charge against him dropped.

Buju is set to be retried on charges of drug conspiracy and possession of a firearm during the course of a drug-trafficking crime. But in documents filed in the US District Court in the Middle District of Florida last Monday, Bujus lawyers urged the judge to free him of the gun charge. As the court is well aware, the jury in this cause could not reach a verdict, and a mistrial was ordered. The government has indicated that it intends to retry the case. In the light most favorable to the government, the evidence was insufficient to convict Mr Myrie on Count 2, the 924(c) charge and, accordingly, Mr Myrie should only be retried on Count 1, Bujus attorney, David Oscar Markus, argued.

Amending the indictment

First, there is no evidence Mark Myrie knew that James Mack (a co-accused) had a gun in his car. The undisputed facts at trial established that Mr Myrie had never even spoken to or met James Mack before being arrested in this case. As for the second element, there is nothing that links Mr Myrie to this gun, added Markus. The lawyer charged that having realized that it could not prove that Buju aided or abetted the possession of the gun, the prosecution attempted to amend the indictment after the close of the first trial. There is simply no evidence that it was reasonably foreseeable to Mr Myrie that Mr Mack would be present at this drug deal and that he would be in possession of a gun, said Markus.

The court is expected to rule on the matter shortly.

Buju and his co-accused, Mack and Ian Thomas, were arrested last December after US law-enforcement agents allegedly recorded them planning a drug deal.

Mack and Thomas, who were held when he went to purchase the coke, subsequently pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

But Buju, who has repeatedly claimed he was not guilty, faced the court in a trial which ended in a hung jury.

He is now out on bail and scheduled to return to court for a second trial early next year.