Buju Banton Gives Update On Crash Website Here Is How To Get Tickets
Buju Banton thanks the media and his supporters at the launch of his “Long Walk To Freedom Tour.”
Buju Banton team held a launch event in Kingston on Wednesday for his highly anticipated “Long Walk To Freedom Tour.” The Gargamel himself wasn’t there, but he did chime in via a big screen with a pre-recorded message for the media and his fans. The first concert is set for the National Stadium in Kingston on March 16, and from there the singer will take the trek worldwide.
“I want to thank those in the media, the print media, radio, television, for their love and support over the years and especially at this time,” Buju said. “On the 16th of March, the national stadium will be a venue like no other. So many years since I’ve seen my people and we have exchanged communications spiritually, mystically and on the 16th of March we endeavor to reconnect.”
Buju Banton has been hitting the studio and spending time with his close family and friends since returning to Jamaica on December 7th after serving nearly a decade in federal prison in the United States. Tickets for the March 16th concert is now on sale on Bujubanton.com.
Buju Banton To Perform In Jamaica Before Post-Prison Trinidad Show
Buju Banton confirmed that his website crashed as fans tried to buy tickets for his March 16h concert.
If you’re trying to buy tickets for Buju Banton’s upcoming concert for March 16th at the National Stadium then your among the man of us who are greeted with an error message on his website. A rep for the singer told Urban Islandz on Thursday that the website is the only avenue where fans can get tickets and at the time of this publication, the site was down.
Buju also update his fans via Instagram. “With tremendous response from fans worldwide we are aware that both bujubanton.com and Caribtix.com website have crashed. My team is working expeditiously to get the sites back up please pay close attention to @destinemedia and / or @budafuco96 for more information,” he said.
Some fans told us that the site worked for them while others are still complaining about having problems. Buju Banton will be releasing more details about the show soon.
Buju Banton Could Be Released From Prison This Year
Buju Banton will be performing in Jamaica before his planned performance in Trinidad and Tobago next year.
Earlier this week a Trinidadian promoter announced that he booked the reggae legend for his very first show after leaving prison at the end of this year. While the Grammy-winning singer will indeed be performing in the Twin Island Republic, it certainly will not be his first show. A rep for Buju Banton confirmed with Urban Islandz on Tuesday that his team is currently in negotiations with a Jamaican promoter to host his first post-prison concert.
“He wants to perform for his fans at home before going anywhere else so some big announcement will be coming out soon,” a representative for the singer told us in an email. “The show in Trinidad will happen also but I think the promoter jumped the gun in announcing that that will be his first show after leaving prison. The fans at home have been relentless in their support for Buju from the beginning and they never waiver in their support so we putting on something special for them.”
Buju Banton’s manager Donovan Germain also confirmed the news about the Trinidad concert but declined to comment on the one planned for Jamaica since they’re currently in negotiations. He also added that the team has been getting calls from promoters all over the world wanting to book the reggae singer. “We getting calls from Africa, Europe, Central America, and even as far as Australia and Japan,” he said.
Buju Banton, real name Mark Myrie, was sentenced to ten years in prison for drug trafficking. His release date is set for December 8th, 2018, which means he could be performing in Jamaica for Christmas. Buju will be deported to Jamaica following his release from a Georgia prison. Will you be attending the Gargamel’s first post-prison concert?
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Buju Banton Trial: U.S. Appeal Court Approves His Request
Buju Banton could be a free man as early as this year.
The embattled reggae star’s legal team, headed by Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree, will be making a case for a new trial in the U.S. court of appeal.
Ogletree says he is expecting the judge to reverse Buju Banton conviction based on two main problems with the case.
“I will be arguing somewhere in the 11th circuit it can be in Miami or other parts of the country it depends on who is sitting that day and what time its going to be,” Ogletree said.
“The two major issue is the fact that an informant was the one who set him up, number one, and number two was a juror doing research during the trial which makes no sense at all, about Buju Banton and about other issues and we found that out after the trial,” the lawprofessor added.
Charles Ogletree also call on Buju Banton fans to come out in support of the incarcerated reggae singer on the date or the argument.
Buju Banton, real name Mark Myrie, is currently serving a 10-year sentenced in a South Florida prison.
The Grammy-winning singer was convicted in 2011 on three counts of cocaine related charges.
His sentence would come to an end in 2019, but Buju Banton has strongly maintained his innocence.
Buju Banton wants to be absent from sentencing hearing / Buju Loses Retrial Bid, Could Get Another 5 Years On Gun Charge / Buju files motion requesting a new trial
Embattled reggae/dancehall star Buju Banton was granted new light into his ongoing fightfor freedom.
According to reports, the U.S. court of appeal has approved Buju Banton’s request for a hearing for a new trial.
Banton’s legal team headed by Harvard Law School professor, Charles Ogletree, submitted legal docs in May requesting a new trial for the reggae entertainer.
In his 55-page court document, Charles Ogletree outlined numerous problems with the case that led to a conviction in 2011 and there are a lot of problems.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta agreed that there were many problems with the case and granted the singer’s lawyers a chance to make an oral submission.
In a statement sent to Urban Islandz, Buju Banton Defense Support Committee says the approval was granted on Monday.
Read the full statement below:
“In May 2014 the Defense Team for Jamaican Reggae Superstar, Buju Banton, filed an appeal to the U.S. Appellate Court requesting the artiste be granted oral arguments and a new trial. Buju’s attorney, Professor Charles Ogletree, submitted a compactand powerful document detailing Buju Banton’s innocence. The Court has responded favourably by granting approval to the oral arguments.
The brief states that Buju Banton was entrapped by a paid informant in December 2009. It gives clear evidence that the foreperson of the jury, Mrs. Terri Wright, acted against the District Court’s instructions by researching information on the case during the trial and that Mrs. Wright further presented the Court with the wrong computer hard drive on which she did her research.”
Buju Banton, who real name is Mark Myrie, was convicted on three counts of drug trafficking charges in February, 2011.
He was sentenced to 10 years in a Federal prison and is currently serving his sentence in South Florida.
But his legal team argued that there were far too many problems with the case to convict the Grammy-winning singer.
First off, the government prosecution team used a paid informant to trap the reggae singer into a deal to buy and distribute cocaine.
Secondly, after the conviction news surfaced that one of the jurors involved in the trial admitted that she research aspects of the case during the trial.
Judge James Moody back then called for a special hearing to investigate juror Teri Wright who was found in contempt of court, but yet still Buju Banton remains behind bars.
Incarcerated Reggae star Buju Banton, has requested that he not be present at his sentencing on a firearm charge in the US District Court in Tampa, Florida next month. A member of Banton's legal team Ihmotep Alkebu-lan told the Jamaica Observer that the artiste has made a formal request that he be absent from the hearing.
"He has asked not to be transported from prison to the court for the sentencing," Alkebu-lan said.
He is currently being housed at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Miami, a low security prison.
However Banton will have to wait on a court ruling to find out if his request will be granted.
Banton had appealed his 10-year sentence after being found guilty on cocaine related charges but the appeal was thrown out by an Appellate Court based in the state of Georgia.
The court also re-instated a firearm charge that was dismissed by judge James Moody. Moody reasoned that Banton had never spoken to or met his co-defendant James Mack, who was held with Ian Thomas in a government controlled warehouse attempting to but a large quantity of cocaine. The gun was found in a hidden compartment of a car Mack was driving.
Both men pleaded guilty and were sentenced to five years but Banton has maintained his innocence and claimed the US government entrapped him by hiring the services of convicted drug dealer turned government informant Alexander Johnson.
Banton faces an additional five years on the firearm charge.
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A Florida court has denied Buju Banton’s request for a new trial following his conviction on drug charges.
Buju had filed for a new trial after losing his appeal against the 10-year prison sentence he is now serving on the drug charges.
In June, the United States Court of Appeal rejected all the claims in the Grammy-winning entertainer’s appeal and sided with prosecutors.
But the Appeals Court had said the trial judge could consider retrying the matter.
The Appeals Court also agreed with the jury’s decision to find the entertainer guilty on the firearm charge.
That charge had been dismissed the trial judge James Moody after the jury delivered its verdict.
BUJU'S LAYWER: We will appeal. I won't stop fighting for my friend and brother.
GRAMMY-WINNING reggae artiste Buju Banton is said by his attorney to be “crushed” and “heartbroken” over yesterday’s decision by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to uphold his conviction and 10-year sentence on cocaine conspiracy and trafficking charges.
“I called him [Buju] and told him about the decision. He, like me, was heartbroken. He couldn’t believe it,” Buju’s lead attorney David Markus told the Jamaica Observer yesterday. “He believes that we were right and would win.”
BUJU... seving a 10-year sentence
Markus appealed for fans of the artiste, whose real name is Mark Myrie, to show their support in these difficult times.
“He’s been strong for a long while, but this is a big blow for him,” added Markus.
Markus told the Observer that he will be visiting with Buju today to discuss the decision and the way forward, which is expected to include applying for a new trial.
“I truly believe that a good man is in jail for talking a big game. I will continue to fight for him,” Markus said.
The artiste was convicted last year February in a federal court in Tampa, Florida and later sentenced. Markus subsequently filed an appeal. The conviction and sentence followed a hung jury in September 2010, which set up the February retrial.
During the appeal hearing, Markus argued that US government informant Alexander Johnson had improperly entrapped his client.
The panel of three judges also agreed with the jury's conviction of Banton on a gun possession charge, which the trial judge had dismissed after the verdict was read. The judges rejected Buju’s argument that his right to a speedy trial had been violated.
The appeal court did not consider Buju’s application for a new trial. Instead, the court said that the issue should be determined in the district court.
Embattled Dancehall/Reggae superstar,Buju Banton adamantly refuses to give up his fight for freedom as he filed for a new trial in his ongoing drug case.
Currently serving a ten year sentence on three drug-related charges, Buju Banton's legal team filed a motion on Tuesday with the United States District Court for the Middle District ofFlorida asking that the Grammy-winning entertainer be granted a new trial. This coming nearly three weeks after a Georgia Circuit Court threw out an appeal made on behalf of Buju Banton, agreeing with the jury's convictions on the three aforementioned charges including conspiracy to distribute cocaine and aiding and abetting a person's use of a telephone to facilitate a drug crime.
The Circuit Court also sided with the jury's guilty verdict regarding a charge of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime; this despite the charge being thrown out by the presiding judge during Buju's last trial.
Should a new trial be granted by the Middle District of Florida, it would mark the third for Buju Banton since his initial arrest in December 2009. However, given that there would be a new judge presiding should the trial take place, Buju risks an extension of his current ten year sentence given that the reinstatement of the aforementioned gun charge carries an additional five year prison term, which would be issued consecutively.
According to Buju's lead lawyer, David Oscar Markus, should his client be denied a new trial on all initial charges by the Florida court, then a new trial will be requested on the gun charge alone.
Buju Banton's first trial ended in a hung jury in September 2010, prompting the artiste to later be released on bail until his second trial in February 2011, in which he was convicted of the three drug-related charges.
He was sentenced in June of last year and originally served his prison term at a Texas-based correctional facility before being moved to a Florida federal prison after several safety concerns were raised.
Buju Banton's current release date is set for February 1, 2019.
A US-based criminal defense attorney, is giving a cautious opinion about reggae entertainer Buju Banton's chances of securing a new trial, following Thursday's dismissal of his case by the US Appeal Court.
Buju was appealing his 10 year sentence for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and the use of a phone to facilitate a drug crime.
The 11th Circuit Court of Appeal not only dismissed the appeal, but reversed the not guilty verdict for his gun possession conviction.
The court also sent Buju's motion for a new trial back to the District Court to decide if enough evidence is there for a new one.
Florida-based defense attorney, Wayne Golding, remains cautious about Buju's attempt to get a new trial.
Babylon will soon fall for taking away all of our leaders with their deceit and envy....Thanks Buju for easing my pain throughout my teenage years and now....
BUJU... seving a 10-year sentence
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