DRUG DEALER'S TESTIMONY OPENS BARRY TRIAL

Prosecutors opened their drug and perjury case against Mayor Marion Barry by calling a convicted drug dealer, who testified Barry used cocaine with him several times and ``smoked more than I did.'' Former city worker Charles Lewis, who previously worked for Mayor Barry's administration and the government of the US Virgin Islands, said June 19 that he first used drugs with Barry in the Virgin Islands in 1986 and in March 1988, and at a downtown Washington Ramada Inn in December 1988.

Mr. Lewis testified in US District Court that Barry often gave him money for the drugs or brought them along in the cuff of his pants or in a matchbox.

In opening statements June 19, a federal prosecutor told jurors that ``while the defendant was preaching down with dope, he was putting dope up his nose''

Defense lawyer R. Kenneth Mundy countered that he will prove Barry was entrapped. ``This is a case about a deal the government made with the devil,'' he said.

``Approximately seven years ago, the government made a determination and a quest that it was going to get Mr. Barry,'' the defense attorney said. ``The evidence will show it was prepared to go to any lengths and any expense.''

Barry is charged with three felony counts of perjury, 10 misdemeanor counts of cocaine use, and one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to possess cocaine as long ago as 1984. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum 26 years in prison and $1.85 million in fines.

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