Buju Banton Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison

International dancehall/reggae star, Buju Banton, appeared in court in Tampa, Florida this morning, where he was sentenced to 10 years in prison (followed by 5 years of probation) for conspiring to set up a cocaine deal in 2009. He will serve the sentence at the FCI prison facility in Miami.

Banton was arrested in December 2009, and a previous trial on the same charges ended in a mistrial in September 2010, when jurors were deadlocked. In February of this year, a federal jury deliberated for 11 hours before finding Banton guilty of conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense and using a telephone to facilitate a drug-trafficking offense.

In the days and weeks leading up to today’s sentencing, many of Banton’s family members, fans and supporters (including several celebrity names from Jamaica and the U.S.), wrote letters to the sentencing judge – U.S. District Judge James S. Moody – pleading for leniency for the Grammy-winning star. This, along with Banton’s lawyers’ efforts probably helped in getting him the 10 year (+ 5 years probation) sentence, given that the minimum mandatory sentence for a guilty verdict for these charges in Florida is 15 years.