NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Barry Witnesses Tell of FBI ‘Pressure’

A Virgin Islands couple testified in the drug and perjury trial of Mayor Marion Barry that they felt pressure from the FBI to change their stories and say they saw Barry use something illegal on a 1986 boat trip. Albert Benjamin and his wife, Carmen, told the jury they saw no drugs on the boat, although Benjamin said he was suspicious because passengers made repeated trips below decks. Earlier witnesses said that drugs were used below and that Barry took part. Benjamin, testifying for the defense, said that FBI agents “kind of kept driving home the point that I had to know, I had to see” Barry and others use drugs on the trip. Carmen Benjamin said of her interrogation, “I felt a little pressure.” Earlier, Barry’s attorney, R. Kenneth Mundy, raised questions about FBI involvement with cocaine-laden business cards allegedly found in Barry’s belongings when the mayor was arrested at a Washington hotel. Mundy showed the court that two cards of an FBI agent were among the cards.