LITTLE ROCK — Grammy-winning reggae singer Buju Banton was convicted Tuesday in Tampa, Fla., of conspiring to set up a cocaine deal in 2009. A federal jury deliberated for 11hours over two days on the fate of Banton, who won a Grammy last week for best reggae album for Before the Dawn. He was found guilty of three of four charges, and his attorney said he’s facing at least 15 years in prison. The 37-year-old Banton, whose given name is Mark Myrie, remains popular in Jamaica, and the trial - his second over the drug accusations - was packed with supporters, including other well-known reggae artists. The first trial ended in a mistrial last year after the jury deadlocked. The tall, dreadlocked singer didn’t react when a clerk read the verdict. He stood, hugged his attorneys, then turned around and blew kisses to his supporters in the courtroom and told them: “Thank you.” Banton’s attorney, David Markus of Miami, said he plans to appeal the conviction and will file a motion to get Banton out of jail on bond in the meantime.
Diane von Furstenberg apologized Tuesday for allowing onto her New York Fashion Week runway a model too young at 15 to meet the fashion industry’s health-initiative standard. Von Furstenberg is president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and helped draft the standards. She had issued a reminder to her colleagues about the voluntary guidelines, which include keeping girls younger than 16 off the catwalk entirely and girls younger than 18 on a limited schedule. “It is to my horror that I discovered last Friday that in spite of me repeating to my production and casting people, one girl slipped through the cracks,” von Furstenberg wrote in an email to the fashion press. “I was horrified and terribly embarrassed.” The model, according to von Furstenberg, will be turning 16 next month.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 02/23/2011