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Stephen Marley Bails Buju Banton Out of Prison

Posted Nov 11th 2010 5:30PM by Theo Bark
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Jeff Kravitz, FilmMagic

Buju Banton received a major show of support on Wednesday, Nov. 10, when fellow reggae artist Stephen Marley posted his bail.

Buju was accused of conspiring to buy cocaine from an undercover federal agent in December of 2009, and had been held in federal custody, without possibility of bail until his case was declared a mistrial back in September, when the jury could not come to a verdict. Unfortunately, the controversial dancehall legend was still unable to come up with the money to post his bail until yesterday, when Stephen Marley, son of reggae legend Bob Marley, came to his aid, posting $300,000 worth of equity in his own home as bond.

Buju's lawyer David Oscar Markus told the Associated Press that he is happy that his client is able to return to his Florida home, to prepare for his February retrial. "We're thrilled that Buju will have some time to regroup before we try this case again," Markus said.

While Buju enjoys his temporary freedom as he awaits a second trial, he was forced to hire a private security team and wear an electronic monitoring device at all times to ensure that he does not flee the country.