Buju Banton's New Legal Team Files Appeal To Seek Retrial

The new legal team for incarcerated reggae superstar Buju Banton has filed an appeal with the US Court of Appeal seeking a new trial.

The appeal was filed with the 11th US Circuit Court on February 4 by attorneys Charles Ogletree, Jack Cushman and Max Stern.

In the 55-page document the attorneys have requested permission to make oral arguments to the court to explain why Banton deserves a new trial.

The new legal team replaces attorneys, Chokwe Lumumba and Imhotep Alkebu-Lan, who have withdrawn from the case.

Lumumba is now the Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi.

Buju was arrested during a US Drug Enforcement Agency sting operation after
police claimed he tried to buy cocaine from an undercover officer.

His trial ended with a mistrial but in June 2011 the entertainer was
convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for conspiracy to possess
with the intent to distribute cocaine and using a telephone to facilitate a
drug trafficking offense.

In his first appeal, the 11th Circuit of the US Appeal Court refused to
throw out the conviction and re-instated the firearm conviction.