Court Urged by U.S. To Refuse Request For New Barry Trial
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Federal prosecutors called on a United States District Court today to deny Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr.’s request for a new trial on his recent conviction for drug possession. Federal prosecutors called on a United States District Court today to deny Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr.’s request for a new trial on his recent conviction for drug possession. The prosecutors, in papers filed with the court, argued that there was no merit in an assertion last week by Mr. Barry’s lawyers that the jury that convicted him had been influenced by comments from Federal marshals and by a noisy undercover drug operation that took place outside the the motel where jurors were sequestered. ”The defendant has not offered any affidavits in support of his claim, but instead has referred to post-verdict interviews with some of the jurors,” the prosecutors said in countering Mr. Barry’s contention that marshals had told several regular jurors that alternate jurors favored convicting the Mayor. Eighteen jurors were chosen to sit in the jury box during the trial and all were sequestered in a motel from the start in an effort to protect them from outside influences. But after final arguments were held in the two-month trial, only 12 were chosen to deliberate the Mayor’s fate, with the remaining six declared alternates. Alternate Jurors’ Remarks Once the deliberations began, the alternates were dismissed, their services no longer needed since none of the regular jurors fell ill or otherwise were disqualified. On leaving the courthouse, some alternates told reporters that they would have voted to convict Mr. Barry on at least some of the 14 charges he faced. In the end, after almost a week of deliberating, the jury brought in a single conviction for possession of cocaine, a misdemeanor, found Mr. Barry not guilty of another possession charge and was unable to resolve the 12 remaining counts. Prosecutors later announced that they would drop the unresolved charges. The mixed verdict, the prosecutors argued in the filing today, was proof that the panel was not influenced by any comments by marshals. As for Mr. Barry’s contention that the jury’s deliberations had been ”contaminated” because a noisy undercover drug raid outside the motel had been observed by some jurors, the prosecutors argued that ”there simply is no connection.” One of the charges against Mr. Barry resulted from an undercover drug operation. The judge in the Barry trial, Thomas Penfield Jackson, is expected to rule soon on the Mayor’s request for a new trial. Source : query.nytimes.com |