https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buju_Banton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buju_Banton#U.S._drug_charges
In December 2009
Drug Enforcement Administration agents remanded Banton to custody in Miami, where the U.S. Attorney charged him with conspiracy to distribute and possession of more than five kilograms of
cocaine.
[18] Banton was then moved to the
Pinellas County Jail where he remained until trial. A six-day trial in
Tampa, Florida was declared a mistrial on 27 September 2010, after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision.
[19] During the trial, audio recordings were presented of Banton and a drug-dealer-turned-
government-informant discussing drugs, drug prices and smuggling. Banton was also seen on a video recording meeting the informant in a police-controlled warehouse tasting cocaine from a kilogram bag.
[19] The informant was reportedly paid $50,000 for his work on the case.
[19] The singer was released that November on bond,
[20] and a new trial was scheduled for February 2011 after prosecutors won reindictment. He was represented by well-known lawyer David Oscar Markus, who hung the first jury 7-5 for acquittal.
He was allowed to perform one concert between trials, which was held on 16 January 2011 to a sold-out crowd in Miami.
[21]
On 22 February 2011, Banton was found guilty of
conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense and using communication wires to facilitate a drug-trafficking offense. He was found not guilty on the charge of attempted possession of five kilograms or more of cocaine.
[22] Four months later, he was sentenced to ten years and one month in a federal prison for the cocaine trafficking conviction.
[23] His sentencing on the firearms conviction was scheduled for 30 October 2012, but was postponed on his lawyer's request for an investigation of possible juror misconduct.
[24] On 14 May 2015 federal prosecutors agreed to drop the firearms charges.
[25]
Banton is scheduled to be released in December 2018.
[26]