THE SYSTEM FAILED BUJU BANTON

BY DAVID OSCAR MARKUS- Appearing in The Jamaica Gleaner

Last week, the same judge who presided over Buju Banton's two trials and sentenced him to 10 years in prison found that one of the jurors, Terry Wright, committed egregious misconduct and found her guilty of criminal contempt of court for conducting research during jury deliberations in direct contravention of the court's orders.

Despite this extraordinary decision, which would cause any reasonable person to doubt the integrity of the verdict, Buju will get no relief. This is a tragedy because the juror's misconduct sent an innocent man to jail.

With all the talk of the misconduct, many have forgotten that this case is about how a con-artist named Alex Johnson set up a recording artiste named Mark Myrie, who performs as Buju Banton.

Johnson, a career criminal who was paid over US$3.3 million by the government, relentlessly pursued the Grammy-award-winning reggae star with no prior convictions. He vowed never to stop trying to turn Buju into a drug dealer even though his target repeatedly said no.

Using every trick and pressure point he had learnt to use over his lengthy career of crime, Johnson became frustrated that he couldn't get Buju Banton to do anything other than talk. So he tricked Buju into a warehouse of cocaine, telling him that they were going to have some fun on a boat and to discuss how Johnson could help Buju with his music career.

End Of Relationship

Even though Buju realised at that point that Johnson was not for real and broke off contact with him, Buju was arrested two days later after Johnson did a deal (unbeknown to Buju) with Buju's friend, Ian Thomas, while Buju was home in bed across the state.

Buju never invested one penny into the drug deal and was never supposed to make one penny out of it. Alex Johnson, on the other hand, made thousands of dollars from the United States government for getting this deal done.

After hearing these facts, the first jury in Tampa (one of the most conservative jurisdictions in Florida) voted 7-5 for acquittal. In a drug case in Tampa, this is just about unheard of as prosecutors convict over 97 per cent of drug defendants.

Ultimately, the judge declared a mistrial because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. Even though it was pretty clear that Buju was no drug dealer, the Federal government was undeterred. It proceeded with a second trial against a person with no prior record, a person with no history of involvement with the drug trade, and a person who was not even present when the informant drug dealer sold cocaine to another individual.

It is at this second trial that the juror committed misconduct by conducting Internet research about Buju himself, the jury instructions, and the law. The prosecution argued that the research was harmless, but interviews of the jury after the verdict revealed that the initial vote was 10-2 in favour of acquittal.

One of the two jurors favouring conviction was (you guessed it) Terri Wright. After the tainted jury convicted Buju, the judge was required under the law to sentence him to a minimum mandatory 10 years in federal prison. Ten years! This is more than the big-time supplier of the cocaine received, more than the co-defendant who had a gun received, and more than the purchaser of the cocaine received.

Unfair Punishment

Buju Banton received the highest penalty in the case, by a lot, because he went to trial and fought for his innocence.

Terri Wright, who calls herself a "passionate" juror and wished she could make jury service her profession, didn't just commit misconduct in the jury room. She did so before and afterwards. During voir dire (the part of the trial where jurors "speak the truth" about their background), she told the court that she had only served previously "on a civil case", when, in reality, she had served on seven prior criminal and civil cases.

When all of her misconduct was discovered, she lied under oath about her actions and even produced a fraudulent computer hard drive to the court to be inspected. It gets worse - even after all of this came to light, Terri Wright sat on another jury and did not disclose that she was the subject of a criminal contempt proceeding for her misconduct as a juror.

US District Judge James S. Moody, rightfully outraged that a juror would disregard his instructions, found Wright guilty of criminal contempt and even ordered her to write a report about the cost of Buju's expensive six-day trial.

Although Wright will never get to fulfil her dream of being a professional juror, she will get to move on with her life. She won't have to do one day in jail. Buju, on the other hand, isn't set to be released from federal prison until 2019. Our system failed him.

FREE BUJU

Buju Banton, the Jamaican reggae star serving a 10 year prison sentence after two federal trials, may have a new chance at freedom. The first trial ended in a mistrial when the jury could not reach a verdict. Buju was represented in both trials by everyone's favourite federal blogger: David O Markus. 

Now comes word that the forewoman of the second jury conducted improper internet research into the case during deliberations. The Tampa Bay Online article is here. 

NB: the statement by DOM that when the jury went out they were 10-2 for acquittal. 

This business of internet access by jurors is just going to get worse, which brings the "S" word- sequestration- back into play.   And that costs money, which no politician/chief judge will be willing to pay. And yet we sequestered jurors in big cases for decades, when there were no cell phones and the only worry was the daily paper. 

Query: Should juries in serious cases (whatever that term means) be sequestered? And if so, when? When the trial begins, or when deliberations begin?

Enjoy your weekend. 

BROTHERS IN ARMS

DOM probably won't blog about his case, so we will.

David scored a significant victory in the sentencing hearing today for Buju Banton, his Grammy-winning reggae singer/ client convicted, after two trials, of drug trafficking in a Tampa federal court. The Sentencing judge dismissed the 924(c) firearms count which carried a consecutive five year minimum mandatory sentence. That just left the 10 year min man on the drug case and that's what the court sentenced Buju to.

From a news account of the sentencing:

Markus said he plans to appeal.

"This fight is not over," Markus said. "We will keep fighting for him. Mark Myrie is my brother, and I'm going to keep fighting until they tell me to stop."

David won't stop fighting even if "they" do tell them to. What more could a client ever ask for in a lawyer?

In a statement he wrote after the sentencing, Banton -whose given name is Mark Myrie - thanked family, fans and supporters from around the world who flooded the court file with letters of support.

"The days that lie ahead are filled with despair, but I have courage and grace and I'm hopeful, and that is sufficient to carry me through," he said in the statement, which was read by Markus. "The man is not dead. Don't call him a ghost."

See You In Court.

Memo to So Fla Lawyers: lay off the criminal stuff or we'll start blogging about debentured bond lawsuits and subrogation and stuff. Capice?

BUJU JURY JAMMIN

UPDATE: ON TO MONDAY. DOM keeps the jury out Friday and through the weekend!! Well done Mr. Markus!! The jury was dismissed for the weekend today and deliberations will resume 8:45 am Monday. We'll keep our fingers crossed all weekend.

Well, Mr. Markus kept the jury out Thursday in the trial of Reggae Star Buju Banton.

The jury returns Friday, and while we wish Mr. Markus and his client the very best, we loathe Friday verdicts.

Earlier DOM put his client on the stand to testify that he was just jammin...the tapes were just talk. "I was trying to impress this guy (the informant). I wasn't going to let him outtalk me" said Buju.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ACCUSED:

USA today has done an analysis of the DOJ and found a "glaring pattern of misconduct" in criminal cases, usually revolving around discovery violations.

The article is here.

Rumpole notes: What do expect with the Jenks act that doesn't require disclosure of most relevant documents until your client has served one year in prison? Or something like that. Actually most state prosecutors and clients are amazed and astounded to learn that the Jenks act doesn't require disclosure of the most routine documents, like prior statements, testimony, and reports, until after (and we are not making that up) the witness testifies on direct examination. Who in the world thought up that ridiculous procedure? The question is, "what is the government afraid of"? If you want to fix the federal criminal justice system, start with amending the Jenks act.

In other news, perhaps the Captain can keep an eye on the internet and post the verdict. We are actually across the pond...on the continent....long story about a client and a ship. But internet access is spotty, and it might be awhile before we update.

See ya back in the states.

GO DAVID GO

Nobody is rooting harder for our fellow blogger and brother in arms than we are for David O Markus as he begins his defense of international reggae star Buju Banton in Tampa.

The title of the post links to the St. Pete Times article on the start of the trial.

From the article:

"The evidence will establish the defendant's clear intention to engage in drug trafficking," said Assistant U.S. Attorney James Preston Jr. "His other occupation aside from entertainment."

Defense attorney David Markus said his client may be heard talking about drug smuggling — but didn't do it.

"Yes, he talked a lot. Yes, he tasted, but he's not a drug dealer," Markus said. "He was not a part of that deal."

....

Prosecutors argue there was a side to Banton besides his music — trafficking drugs. And while on a flight from Madrid in July 2009, Banton divulged this to an informer named Alexander Johnson.

"Myrie said he was involved in a smuggling venture from Venezuela, to St. Maarten to Europe," Preston told jurors.

Over the next five months, the informer and Banton talked on the phone several times about drug dealing, Preston said. Many of the conversations were taped.

A deal came to a head on Dec. 8, when Banton and Ian Thomas, his driver at the time, met with Johnson at a warehouse in Sarasota. There, prosecutors say, they have Banton on video tasting cocaine.

Over the next two days, Johnson, Thomas and a Georgia man named James Mack are accused of brokering a deal with undercover agents to purchase 11 pounds of cocaine.

Mack and Thomas were arrested Dec. 10 while attempting to finalize the deal. Banton was arrested at his Broward County home later that day.

Defense attorney Markus argued his client was not directly involved in the drug buy. It was Mack, not Banton, who put up $125,000 for the cocaine, Markus said.

Mack and Thomas have agreed to a plea deal.

Markus also questioned Johnson's credibility.

Johnson, a native of Colombia, has been employed by the government since 1996 after being released from prison for drug smuggling. Prosecutors verified that Johnson has received about $3.3 million in government money for information.

Johnson, who lives in South Florida, faces a dispute with the IRS over taxes.

"Alex Johnson has never held a job, instead he's been setting people up and been paid for it," Markus said. "When you make that kind of money you're supposed to pay taxes. He has a million dollar home, credit card debt and he's filed for bankruptcy."

Stand by for more news. Bulletins at once.