Buju Banton will indeed serve his sentence. That is the verdict of the Atlanta (USA) appeals court, which upheld the deejay's 10-year prison sentence for conspiracy and cocaine trafficking.
The court ruled that the evidence was sufficient to establish his guilt. It also rejected the entrapment claim: "Johnson only spoke of cocaine to Buju Banton after Mark Myrie indicated his familiarity with drug trafficking, and Myrie asked Johnson whether he could buy cocaine from him…", the judges state in their decision.
The judges also rejected the argument that Buju Banton's right to a speedy trial (under the Speedy Trial Act) had been violated. Finally, the Court of Appeals said it shared the jury's conviction on the firearm possession charge, a count that Judge James Moody had ultimately thrown out during the trial.
"I got Buju on the phone and told him about the appeals court's decision, his lawyer David Markus told the daily Jamaica Observer. He was heartbroken, like me. He couldn't believe it."
Sentenced in February 2011, Buju Banton had appealed the decision last December. The appeal already looked in bad shape in early 2012, when the news agency Associated Press reported the Department of Justice's response.
The appeals court referred the question of a possible retrial to a lower court. "I will keep fighting for him", David Markus added.