Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Buju Banton Fires Lawyer, Hires Civil Rights Activist


David Oscar Markus is no longer Buju Banton attorney. He has been replaced by civil rights activist and community organizer Chokwe Lumumba is the lawyer who will continue Buju’s fight against federal drug and gun charges.

Markus confirmed his departure in an email to New Times which read in part, “I will always consider Buju my friend and my brother and I think of him every day. It pains me that he is in prison. I truly hope that he gets some relief.”

Lumumba will continue the Reggae star's fight against federal drug charges. The Mississippi-based attorney currently waiting on the official paperwork to go through and has plans to meet with Buju Banton at a Miami federal penitentiary in the coming weeks. Lumumba is a member of the the City Council of Jackson, Mississippi.

In the past, Lumumba has worked on cases involving Tupac Shakur, Black Panther Assata Shakur (a step-aunt to Tupac), and Lance Parker, a black man accused of assaulting a white truck driver during the 1992 Rodney King riots in L.A.

A Tampa jury found Buju guilty last year of two drug-related charges and a gun charge. The trial judge, however, tossed the gun charge and sentenced the reggae entertainer to 10 years in prison.

Unfortunately for the Gargamel in appealing the charges, the gun charge was added back, which means his sentence could increase by 5 years.

A resentencing in Buju Banton’s case is slated for October 30.

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