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MARSHALL LAW!

SINGER WAYNE MARSHALL was arrested early New Year's Day by the Constant Spring Police.

The singer, whose real name is Wayne Mitchell, 23, was arrested along with one other man and a female during a spotcheck by the police on Constant Spring Road in Kingston. The man is 22-year-old Khan Francis, while the female is 19-year-old Alanna Leslie.

The police say that at roughly 1:35 a.m., they stopped a Lexus motorcar with the three aboard. When they searched the car, they reportedly found ganja, as well as a portion of firecrackers and fireworks. With these finds, they were charged both with breaches of the Dangerous Drugs and the Customs Act.

Following their arrest, they were each granted $50,000 bail, and booked to answer to their charges on January 13 in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

When contacted yesterday, Marshall had a slightly different account of the early morning's events. He told THE WEEKEND STAR that all his troubles stemmed from a traffic violation.

He said he was headed up Constant Spring road for an engagement and was very late. Added to this he said, he was slowly crawling in the traffic that was headed for the event.

"...I took the right side going up and I like made another lane, but I was taking my time going up," he said.

Uncustomed goods

A police patrol who apparently saw the move, pulled over Marshall's vehicle and told him he was going to be charged for the traffic offence, he added. This he said he was prepared for, but not for what followed.

"They searched the car now and found the firecrackers. One of my brethren that I was with had bought them, and had ganja on him. They found the ganja and told us to go over to the station."

There, Marshall said even after his friend took responsibility for the ganja and the firecrackers, all three were charged for everything. "My charge that I got was for transporting uncustomed goods, nothing else, because only one person was charged for breaching the Customs Act and for the possession of the weed."

In Marshall's view, the whole incident was unnecessary, but he told THE WEEKEND STAR he was prepared to have his day in court come January 13.

Marshall soared to recognition locally in the late 90s with some key combinations with some of Jamaica's top deejays. These include Bounty Killer, Vybz Kartel, among others. Marshall has since ventured into the solo world and done several tracks that have been regular rotators on the airwaves. These include 'Overcome', 'Hot In The Club', 'Marshall Town' and others. In Late 2003, Marshall released his first album titled 'Marshall Law'.