POLICE ALLEGE $5 OF CRACK IN BARRY CAR

Residue Found In Search Probably Did Not Justify Prosecution, Authorities Say

Law enforcement authorities yesterday described the cocaine "residue" they
said they found in former mayor Marion Barry's car as a small rock of crack
cocaine that might sell for $5 on the street. Barry insisted that police
found no drugs in his car.

"They made all this up to justify questioning me," he said. "It's all made
up. I don't know what happened. Whatever they say was all made up."

According to a criminal incident report taken by the U.S. Park Police last
week, Barry was parked at First and S streets SW about 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
Police patrolling the area checked on the car after receiving a call about
a suspicious vehicle parked in a no-parking zone, authorities said.

The officer who approached Barry's Jaguar said he saw the driver "ingest
something" and subsequently noticed a "powdery substance" under Barry's
nose, said Sgt. Scott Fear, a Park Police spokesman.

Barry, 66, gave police his license and registration and then was asked to
step out of the car while officers used a chemical field test and a
drug-detecting dog to check the vehicle. The report states that a trace of
marijuana and a $5 worth of crack cocaine were found. Barry was released
from the scene without charges, Fear said. Narcotics agents said a $5 rock
of crack -- about the size of a children's aspirin tablet -- is a
marketable amount, often found for sale on D.C. streets.

Barry was convicted of misdemeanor cocaine possession after being arrested
in 1990 in a downtown hotel. In the meantime, he has said on many occasions
that he is drug- and alcohol-free, and he recently announced that he would
return to public life by running for an at-large D.C. Council seat this year.

The former mayor was at Buzzard Point, a finger of land that is surrounded
by the Anacostia River, blocks of low-slung federal buildings and warehouses.

Barry said he parked in the area to meet a friend he was counseling. While
he sat in his car was approached by Park Police, who regularly patrol the
federal buildings in that area.

Fear said Park Police did not target Barry. "If that was anybody else, the
same thing would have happened," Fear said. "He wasn't treated any
differently than anyone else."

In a brief interview yesterday, Barry disputed the police report.

He said a police lieutenant told him at the scene that a search had found
no drugs in his car. "The lieutenant told me there was nothing in my car
and I take his word at it, simple as that," Barry said. He declined to
identify the lieutenant.

The criminal testing kit used at the scene "is extremely accurate," but
"there's always a chance for a false positive," Fear said.

The police dog at the scene has been 100 percent accurate on the street
since he started searching for drugs about three years ago, Fear said. "He
has never had a negative alert outside of training," Fear said.

Law enforcement authorities said it's widely accepted that the U.S.
attorney's office in the District will not prosecute someone for possession
of drug residues.

"I'm not aware of any such case ever being [prosecuted] for just residue
alone," said Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the office.

Phillips declined to comment on the Barry case. In other instances, he
said, a $5 rock could amount to more than residue. Phillips said even then,
such a small amount would not likely warrant prosecution unless it was
found in the person's possession. Police said they found the rock in
Barry's car.

Phillips also said drug field tests are not used as evidence in trial. He
said seized drugs tested in the field are forwarded to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration lab. "The field test, all it does is establish
probable cause for the person to be arrested," Phillips said.

In Barry's case, Park Police saw no need to test the residue further
because there was not enough to warrant a prosecution.

Former assistant U.S. attorney David Schertler said the yardstick generally
used in prosecuting drug possession is a "usable amount," which is subjective.

Staff writers Sewell Chan and Serge Kovaleski contributed to this report.