Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jan 2006
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Page: A01 - Front Page
Copyright: 2006 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Authors: Yolanda Woodlee and Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writers
Note: Staff writer Robert E. Pierre contributed to this report.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Marion+Barry
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

BARRY TESTED POSITIVE FOR COCAINE USE IN THE FALL

Drug Check Ordered After Tax Case Plea

D.C. Council member Marion Barry tested positive for cocaine use in
the fall in a drug test ordered by a court after he pleaded guilty to
misdemeanor tax charges, according to two sources familiar with
Barry's case.

Barry, who served four terms as mayor and was elected to the Ward 8
council seat in 2004, has since begun treatment for drug use, the
sources said, but Barry's failure to pass the mandatory drug test puts
him in legal jeopardy.

Because he violated the terms of his release, Barry, 69, faces an
increased risk of serving the maximum 18 months behind bars -- rather
than probation -- for his failure to file tax returns for six years.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 8, but a federal judge could jail
him or sanction him at any time.

Barry, interviewed last night in his Howard University Hospital room,
where he's being treated for hypertension, said he did not deny
accounts of his drug test and treatment but declined to discuss his
case. "Write what you want to write," he told a Washington Post
reporter. "That's my official quote. No more, no less."

Barry pleaded guilty Oct. 28 to the misdemeanor tax charges, and as a
condition of being released on his own recognizance, he was required
to undergo drug testing soon after, court records show. But, according
to two sources close to Barry and an official familiar with his case,
the court's probation office notified U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A.
Robinson and prosecutors in or around November that Barry's test
result was positive for drug use. Two of the three sources said the
drug was cocaine. The sources asked not to be identified because a
court case is pending.

Robinson has not revoked Barry's bond or ordered him jailed pending
sentencing, as she could have because of the drug infraction, court
records say. Nor did prosecutors seek to cancel their plea agreement
with Barry, in which they had said they would not oppose his effort to
seek probation at sentencing.

It's not unusual for defendants to fail drug tests and remain free
while awaiting sentencing, court officials said. Judges sometimes will
order them to undergo treatment or submit to more frequent testing.

Barry's attorney, Frederick D. Cooke Jr., sought for Barry to undergo
drug treatment to show in the weeks before sentencing that his failed
drug test was a relatively minor, one-time infraction of his release
terms, according to a law enforcement source. The goal would be to
avoid having Barry arrested for failing to comply with his release
terms and to avoid tougher sentencing for the tax crimes.

The tax case involves Barry's failure to pay most of his federal and
D.C. income taxes for six years after his fourth term as mayor ended
in January 1999. Prosecutors said he received more than $530,000 in
income over the next six years but did not document most of it.
Barry's plea agreement also calls for him to make arrangements to
resolve his tax debts.

Cooke declined to comment yesterday on Barry's status. Channing
Phillips, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District,
said yesterday that he would neither confirm nor deny that Barry had
violated a condition of his release.

"We will decline to comment until we are back before the court since
it is pending sentencing," Phillips said.

Barry was in the news last week when he held a news conference to
describe an incident in which he was robbed in his kitchen Jan. 2 by
two assailants who helped him carry groceries to his third-floor
apartment in Southeast Washington. They pointed a gun at Barry's face
and stole his wallet, which police said contained more than $200, his
driver's license and two credit cards.

Drug problems and speculation about drug use have plagued Barry
through much of the latter part of his 30-year political career. In
1990, during his third term as mayor, Barry was arrested at the Vista
Hotel after being videotaped smoking crack, an image that for years
has haunted him and the city he led.

Barry's arrest was followed by seven weeks in treatment centers in
Florida and South Carolina. He repeatedly invoked God upon his return,
in keeping, a spokesman said at the time, with his 12-step,
faith-based treatment program.

After serving six months for cocaine possession in the Vista incident,
Barry led a political comeback in 1992, winning a D.C. Council seat
and then a fourth term as mayor two years later.

While preparing to run in 2002 for an at-large council seat, U.S. Park
Police reported that they found a trace of marijuana and $5 worth of
crack cocaine in Barry's Jaguar while he was parked at Buzzard Point
in Southwest Washington. Police never charged Barry, who then scrapped
his campaign plans. When he campaigned for a Ward 8 seat in 2004, he
claimed in interviews that the Park Police planted the drugs in his
car.

After he was reelected to a fourth term as mayor, Barry said in an
interview with Post reporters and editors that he'd made "a remarkable
recovery," responding to the criticism by some that he had returned to
the rigorous job of mayor too soon. He denied having a relapse with
drugs and alcohol.

Barry has had numerous health troubles recently. A cancer survivor,
Barry has diabetes and high blood pressure and was hospitalized at
least three times last year.

Still, the former mayor, when well, has kept a regular public schedule
of council meetings and community events.

Barry was released in late October on his personal recognizance until
sentencing under several conditions ordered by Robinson. He had to
continue to live at his residence on Douglas Place SE, alert the court
if he traveled outside the Washington area and follow instructions of
his probation officer. He also had to submit to being fingerprinted,
photographed and tested for drugs.

Under the plea deal, prosecutors reserved the right to scrap that
agreement if Barry failed to comply with all the terms.

Judges have considerable discretion in deciding how to handle
defendants who violate conditions of their release, court officials
said, and they typically weigh the seriousness of the infraction in
deciding whether to jail defendants. When defendants are sentenced,
however, even minor violations are typically mentioned in open court
and considered relevant in assessing the defendant's overall conduct.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake