NATION : D.C. Mayor Barry Indicted on Drug, Perjury Counts
Marion Barry, mayor of Washington, was indicted by a federal grand jury today on five criminal counts of possessing cocaine and three counts of lying to a grand jury.
Barry, one of the most prominent and controversial black politicians in the United States, was charged with possessing cocaine on four occasions in 1988 and at the Vista International Hotel in downtown Washington on Jan. 18 when he was arrested in a police “sting” operation.
Barry is undergoing treatment for substance abuse at a Florida clinic and has turned over the day-to-day operations of the district government to a city administrator.
The indictment charged that during a Jan. 19, 1989, grand jury appearance Barry lied under oath by stating he was not aware that Charles Lewis was involved with drugs and by stating that the two men had not exchanged cocaine.
Lewis, who is cooperating with the investigation, was recently sentenced to 15 months in prison on drug charges.
Each of the three false declaration charges carries a five-year prison term and a maximum fine of $250,000.
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