Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 19, 1990 TAG: 9006190111
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Another says she believes race may have played a role in Barry's prosecution. A third says she's reluctant to judge a fellow human being.
Twelve of the 18 will be designated as jurors when deliberations begin. The other six will be dismissed.
The panel will be sworn in today, then hear opening statements.
U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the 18 - picked from 81 District of Columbia residents - to be sequestered for the duration of the trial.
Jackson did not say why he would wait to announce which six of the 18 are alternates.
Barry, who announced last week that he wouldn't seek re-election, sat facing the jury box during Monday's hour-long court session.
The panel includes 13 blacks and five whites. Under court rules, the prosecution was permitted to dismiss a maximum of nine prospective jurors, the defense 13. The prosecution dismissed seven, all of them black. The defense dismissed a dozen, 10 of them white.
Barry, 54, is black, and a number of prospective jurors questioned over the last two weeks said they thought race and politics had played a role in the investigation and prosecution of the three-term mayor.
Many of the 18 expressed reluctance to be jurors, and said they already have formed opinions about the investigation and prosecution of Barry. But all said, in questioning as prospective jurors, that they would set aside their personal views if called to deliberate the mayor's fate.
One member of the panel, Harriedell Jones, said she regards the undercover operation against Barry as unfair and added that she felt race had played a role in the case.
"If his race was different, they would go about" investigating and prosecuting Barry differently, she said.
Barry was arrested at a hotel in January after the FBI videotaped him allegedly smoking crack cocaine. Barry had been persuaded to come to the room by ex-model Rasheeda Moore, who was cooperating with the government.
Another prospective juror, Marsena Hall, said during questioning that "I don't want to be put" in a situation of having to sit in judgment of Barry or anyone else.
"I really don't feel like I can" judge a fellow human being, Hall said when questioned by assistant U.S. attorney Judith Retchin. She told R. Kenneth Mundy, Barry's lawyer, that she could be fair and impartial regarding the evidence in the mayor's case.
Another panel member, Joyce Hines, said, "I think anything done undercover is wrong.
"I think everything should be done out in the open," Hines said at one point in her questioning as a prospective juror.
But Hines said she would follow the court's instructions. The judge will instruct the panel that the FBI sting operation was legal.
Another prospective juror, Valerie Jackson-Warren, called undercover operations "a little sneaky" and said the "sting" against Barry was unfair.
The FBI videotape is the heart of the government's case. Barry is charged with 10 misdemeanor counts of cocaine possession, one misdemeanor count of conspiracy and three felony counts of lying to a federal grand jury about his alleged involvement with drugs.
Jones expressed an opinion about Barry's grand jury testimony.
"I think he might" have lied to the grand jury, she said.
The panel members include a high school history teacher, a courier for a local messenger service, an unemployed school-crossing guard and an accounting assistant at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
by CNB