Feds want Marion Barry jailed
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
February 10, 2009
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Federal prosecutors on Monday asked a judge to revoke D.C. Councilman Marion Barry’s probation and put the former mayor in jail for yet again not filing his tax returns.
Prosecutors allege Barry willfully failed to file his 2007 tax returns. The Ward 8 council member is coming to the end of a three-year probationary period for failing to file federal or D.C. returns from 1999 to 2004 — two charges to which he pleaded guilty in 2005.
“The tax filing status of a public servant is a matter of legitimate public interest,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Zeno in a filing with the U.S. District Court for D.C. “It is not acceptable for any citizen to shirk a basic civil duty, let alone a former Mayor and a current City Councilman who has been responsible in the past and continues to be responsible for spending public funds collected from District of Columbia taxpayers.”
Zeno urged the court to put Barry in jail, as he has proven his “unworthiness to reap the benefits of a lenient sanction.” If not prison, Barry should be required to appear before a judge and explain “why he has broken his promise to the Court,” Zeno wrote, at which point the government will request a two-year extension of his probation.
A footnote in Zeno’s filing noted that Barry “may have a medical issue to resolve in the next few weeks.” The government, he wrote, “does not oppose coordinating the period of incarceration so that the defendant can resolve medical issues, if necessary.”
A spokesman for Barry said Tuesday evening that neither the council member nor his attorney, Frederick Cooke, have received notice of the filing and therefore would not comment.
Barry, 72, spent six months in prison following his 1990 conviction on drug charges and has repeatedly run afoul of the law, though it has had virtually no effect on his political success. He earns $115,000 a year as a council member.
“No comment, but I know I would like to come back as him,” said former Councilwoman Carol Schwartz.
This is the second time prosecutors have sought to revoke Barry’s probation. In 2006, U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson said prosecutors did not prove he had willfully failed to filed his 2005 returns.
Now, Zeno wrote, prosecutors have the evidence: Barry had to prove to the probation office that he had filed for an extension in order to take a September vacation in Jamaica. Barry “knew that permission to travel hinged on his compliance with the tax laws,” prosecutors allege.
“The Court’s patience should be at an end,” prosecutors said. “The defendant continues to flout the standards applicable to all persons who reside in the District of Columbia, who work for a living, and who pay a portion of their income to support his salary.”
