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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 10, 1990                   TAG: 9007100145
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

WITNESS DETAILS BARRY DRUG USE

Using a rolled-up dollar bill, a Tehran-born restaurateur demonstrated on the witness stand Monday how he said Mayor Marion Barry repeatedly snorted cocaine, once only minutes before giving a speech.

Hassan Mohammadi said he furnished cocaine to Barry about 30 times, once delivering more than 2 grams of the drug to the mayor in his office.

Barry never paid, Mohammadi testified. In fact, he said, on a November 1987 trip to the Bahamas, Barry played blackjack using the $3,000-$4,000 worth of chips that Mohammadi bought.

The mayor leaned back in his chair at the defense table, sometimes smiling, once grinning broadly. During breaks in the proceedings he joked with his attorneys, his campaign manager and his press secretary.

Mohammadi, who immigrated from Iran in 1972 at the age of 18, said he met Barry at a party during the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco in 1984. He invited the mayor to the grand opening of Pardi's restaurant in February 1985.

The first time he saw Barry ingest cocaine, the witness said, was on that occasion.

Mohammadi said he, Barry, and nightclub owner Samad Arshadi, went upstairs where Arshadi placed some powder on the table.

Using a credit card, Arshadi "made a line" out of the powder "and he and Mr. Mayor snorted" the substance through a rolled-up bill, said Mohammadi.

The men then went downstairs and Barry "made a speech" to the guests at the packed restaurant's grand opening, said Mohammadi.

"Did you force the defendant to accept those quantities of cocaine from you?" asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Roberts.

"Not at all," the witness said.

"Did anyone force the defendant to accept those quantities of cocaine?"

"No."

Barry is charged with 10 counts of cocaine possession, one count of conspiracy and three counts of lying to a federal grand jury about his alleged involvement with drugs.

At Roberts' urging, Mohammadi demonstrated how Barry allegedly rolled up a bill, put his left finger to close off one nostril and inhaled through the bill with his right nostril.

At that point in Mohammadi's demonstration, Barry grinned broadly.

by CNB