Ex-DC mayor's son spared jail time in drug case
WASHINGTON - September 27, 2011
A judge on Tuesday gave the younger Barry, the son of the mayor
who was caught smoking crack cocaine in 1990, a nine-month
suspended sentence on charges of possessing marijuana and PCP.
Marion Christopher Barry will remain free from jail if he stays out
of trouble.
The 31-year son was arrested in May after police were called to
his Washington home by neighbors who heard screaming and things
breaking. Barry jumped out a third story window when officers
arrived, though he later returned and acknowledged that he was high
on PCP when he began breaking things. Officers found a vial
containing PCP and five sandwich bags of marijuana in the
apartment.
Barry, who pleaded guilty in July, told the judge he had been
"self-medicating" with drugs and that he was not a drug dealer.
The judge noted that Barry's drug problem began with the death of
his mother, Effi Barry, in 2007.
During his third term as mayor, Marion Barry was videotaped
smoking crack cocaine in a hotel room in an FBI sting operation. He
served six months in federal prison. Following his prison sentence,
he was elected to a fourth term as mayor in 1994 and now serves on
the D.C. Council.
Barry, who attended his son's sentencing, declined to comment
following the hearing as did his son, Barry's only child.
