Tampa, Florida (AP):

A Florida jury adjourned yesterday without reaching a verdict in Jamaica's reggae star Buju Banton's drug trial.

The 12-person jury in Tampa federal court will reconvene today to continue deliberating whether the singer conspired to buy cocaine from an undercover police officer in a Sarasota warehouse last December.

Buju, whose real name is Mark Myrie, is charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine and aiding two others in possessing a firearm during the course of cocaine distribution. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

The singer testified that he talked a lot about cocaine with a United States government informant, but he was only trying to impress the man, who claimed to have music industry connections.

The informant, Alexander Johnson, is a convicted cocaine smuggler who has earned US$3.3 million working for US law enforcement. He testified that Buju admitted involvement in drug trafficking, and that he surprised the singer with cocaine at the warehouse on December 8.

The singer was not present two days later when two co-defendants, Ian Thomas and James Mack, tried to buy the drug.