Prosecutors urge jail for Marion Barry

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors Monday urged a judge to send Washington City Councilman Marion Barry to jail for an alleged probation violation.

Barry, a former Washington mayor, violated terms of his probation for prior tax offenses by failing to file federal and local returns for 2007, prosecutors said in a motion filed in U.S. District Court Monday, The Washington Post reported.

Barry, 72, pleaded guilty to not filing returns from 1999 through 2004. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Zeno said Barry has not filed tax returns on time in eight of the last nine years and said his failure to file for 2007 "is indefensible."

"It is not acceptable for any citizen to shirk a basic civil duty, let alone a former mayor and 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 said in his court motion.

Prosecutors said they would request a two-year extension of Barry's probation if the judge declines to jail him. Barry was sentenced in 2006 to three years probation, after pleading guilty in 2005 to two misdemeanor tax offenses and admitting he paid no taxes on most of the $500,000 income he said he earned from 1999 to 2004.

In 1990, while serving his third term as mayor, Barry was arrested in a hotel room drug sting conducted by the FBI and D.C. police. Video of the arrest was widely televised and Barry, who served a six-month prison sentence for cocaine possession, decided against seeking re-election.

He was elected to a fourth term as mayor in 1994.