
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 28, 1990                   TAG: 9006280092
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MODEL DETAILS BARRY'S DRUG USE

Ex-model Rasheeda Moore testified Wednesday that she used cocaine, marijuana and opium with Marion Barry "over 100 times" and that the mayor once told her he was addicted to cocaine.

Testifying in Barry's drug and perjury trial, the woman who cooperated with the FBI in the mayor's arrest said they had a sexual relationship and shared drugs between 1986 and 1988. She said Barry once slapped her to the floor after using drugs.

Barry watched the 39-year-old Moore with a stony stare as she described their relationship. Barry's wife, Effi, smiled as Moore took the witness stand but wore a grim expression as the witness detailed allegations of sex and drug use.

Moore said that after smoking crack cocaine in one session, Barry "said he was addicted to cocaine. He said he wanted to quit."

Prosecutors were expected to use her testimony to introduce as evidence an FBI videotape of the Jan. 18 night when Barry allegedly smoked crack cocaine while visiting Moore at a Washington hotel room.

Barry, 54, has pleaded innocent to 10 misdemeanor cocaine possession charges, one misdemeanor cocaine conspiracy charge, and three felony charges of lying to a grand jury about his alleged drug use. One possession charge stems from the sting in which the three-term mayor was arrested.

Speaking in a low and even voice, Moore described how she and the mayor used drugs, including cocaine powder, crack cocaine, marijuana and opium, at a dozen places around Washington.

She said Barry became violent after one session at a Washington hotel in which they smoked crack cocaine through a homemade pipe Barry assembled from aluminum foil and a large spoon. The mayor accused her of having a relationship with another man and "slapped me," Moore said.

She returned the slap, she said, but "ended up on the floor" when Barry slapped her again.

"I haven't hit a woman in 20 years," she said Barry told her. "You bring the worst out in a man."

At a bench conference, Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Retchin said Moore has been in the government's witness protection program since Jan. 29 because of death threats. Retchin claimed that there is a $100,000 contract out on Moore's life, but that there is no evidence Barry had anything to do with the threat.

by CNB