News Elicits Sadness, Not Shock

"He cannot help people in Ward 8 until he helps himself. That should be his number one priority," said longtime activist Phillip Pannell, who suggested Barry take a leave of absence from the D.C. Council. "He needs to be away from politics, away from the phone and staff, and deal with his health situation."

Others, however, said Barry has been productive in the last year, advocating for the city's poorest ward.

"He's in the mix," said Arrington Dixon, a former member of the D.C. Council who lives and works in Ward 8. "That's what we want him to be."

But regulars at Players Lounge, one of Barry's favorite haunts, said the former mayor often drinks there, even though he has admitted to abusing alcohol in the past.

Barry's tax case involved his failure to pay most of his federal and D.C. income taxes for six years after his fourth term as mayor ended in January 1999. Prosecutors said he received more than $530,000 in income over the six years but did not document most of it.

Richard A. Houck Jr., chief of the U.S. probation office in the District, said yesterday that he could not discuss specifics of Barry's case. He said it's clear, however, because of Barry's guilty plea to tax charges Oct. 28, that the probation office would -- and did -- conduct a routine pre-sentencing investigation of his situation.

In such investigations, defendants awaiting sentencing are automatically screened for seven drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, according to the office's protocol, and defendants generally are asked to submit to the testing immediately or shortly after their first court appearance.

"Mr. Barry was not singled out," Houck said. "This is our routine . . . . The whole pre-sentence process is about us determining the circumstances of an individual -- their past, their present."

Cocaine typically remains in a person's urine and can be detected in standard drug tests for 48 to 72 hours after use, according to screening experts. If a defendant fails a drug test, the probation office's pre-sentencing report will include that information. The report is confidentially shared with the judge and lawyers several weeks before the sentencing hearing. But the probation office does not typically request additional tests.

"In this kind of case, we are not supervising an individual," he said. "We are investigating him."

In Barry's case, prosecutors could choose to scrap a plea agreement on the tax charges because a failed drug test could be viewed as a breach of the agreement. But unless there's a pattern of continuing drug use, it is unusual in such cases for prosecutors to do so.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson has discretion in deciding whether Barry's infraction merits jail time or other sanctions at sentencing. Houck said some defendants who have failed a drug test were ordered to undergo drug treatment and prove their progress through subsequent testing. If the drug use continued, some have faced additional jail time or more restrictions.