Having begun on Valentine's Day, just as it emerged that he had won the Grammy Award for best reggae album, Buju Banton's trial entered the witness-hearing phase yesterday. The hearings will wrap up today.
Described by court reporters as a "hard day" for Buju, the second day of the trial saw prosecutor James Preston show footage of Buju sampling cocaine with a knife, as well as audio excerpts of telephone conversations between the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) informant Alexander Johnson and Banton, regarding a coke deal.
It was also a chance to clarify the profile of the main witness for the prosecution. A former trafficker turned informant, he admitted having been paid $50,000 for Buju Banton's arrest, and more than $3.3 million since the DEA hired him in 1996. He reportedly receives 15 to 20% of the sums seized in the arrests he has contributed to.
David Oscar Markus, Gargamel's lawyer, painted the picture of a man in need of money (he admitted being bankrupt and buried in back taxes), hence his insistence on proposing the deal to Buju Banton. The point of the debate was to determine which of the two first brought up the subject of drugs, Buju explaining that Johnson kept pressing him about it. The witness eventually admitted as much.
During a boozy night, the deejay said he had drunk too much red wine. When he asked Johnson for water, Johnson asked if he didn't want "something else". Asked by Markus whether he wanted to get him drunk to lower his guard, Johnson did not deny it: "That's part of the game I play," adding that he wanted Banton to feel like a member of his family.
On Monday, DEA investigator Dan McCaffrey had stated that there was no evidence that Buju Banton was a drug trafficker, as he had already said at the first trial in September.
He specified that two men from Georgia had gathered the $135,000 that Buju's alleged accomplices (Ian Thomas and James Mack) presented to Johnson. The gun for which Gargamel is also being tried was found in James Mack's car. If found guilty, Buju Banton faces 20 years in prison.
Source: The Associated Press