washington dc news

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

Prosecutors seek jail for Marion Barry

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors said Councilman Marion Barry failed to file his tax returns on time for a seventh year in a row, and they asked a judge to send the former mayor to jail.

In a court document filed Wednesday, prosecutors said Barry, who last year got probation instead of incarceration in a criminal tax case, "has not acted like a person who has been given the opportunity of probation and should not be treated like one."

Barry pleaded guilty in 2005 to misdemeanors for failing to file tax returns covering 1999 to 2004. As part of his plea bargain, Barry agreed to file future federal and local tax returns annually. Prosecutors now charge that Barry missed deadlines for filing federal and D.C. tax returns for 2005.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys James W. Cooper and Thomas E. Zeno argued that Barry should be incarcerated as a way of "making clear to this defendant that he is not above the law."

Barry, 71, said Thursday that he has "met every condition of my probation."

"They're trying to harass me and embarrass me, and they ought to stop it," Barry told WUSA-TV.

In the legal memo to U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson, prosecutors said they "take no joy" in seeking the jail sentence, and they noted Barry's public service as a civil rights activist and his four terms as D.C. mayor.

No new charges were filed against Barry, but prosecutors said he committed two new crimes by missing the deadline for his 2005 taxes while on probation. No hearing date was set.

The memo, filed a month after prosecutors first sought to revoke Barry's probation, marks the first time the U.S. attorney's office has called for jail time for Barry in the case.

Barry has gone behind bars before. After he was famously videotaped smoking crack in a 1990 FBI sting operation, Barry served six months in prison.

Barry earned nearly $93,000 as a council member in 2005 but filed neither return on time, prosecutors said. The IRS gave him an extension until Oct. 15, after he asked for more time, but he also missed that deadline, authorities said. Barry filed the 2005 returns last month after prosecutors asked for his probation to be revoked.

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Appeals court overturns D.C. gun ban

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court overturned the District of Columbia's long-standing handgun ban Friday, rejecting the city's argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applied only to militias.

In a 2-1 decision, the judges held that the activities protected by the Second Amendment "are not limited to militia service, nor is an individual's enjoyment of the right contingent upon his or her continued intermittent enrollment in the militia."

The court also ruled the D.C. requirement that registered firearms be kept unloaded, disassembled and under trigger lock was unconstitutional.

In 2004, a lower-court judge had told six city residents that they did not have a constitutional right to own handguns. The plaintiffs include residents of high-crime neighborhoods who wanted the guns for protection.

"The district's definition of the militia is just too narrow," Judge Laurence Silberman wrote for the majority Friday. "There are too many instances of 'bear arms' indicating private use to conclude that the drafters intended only a military sense."

Judge Karen Henderson dissented, writing that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because it is not a state.

The Bush administration has endorsed individual gun-ownership rights, but the Supreme Court has never settled the issue.

If the dispute makes it to the high court, it would be the first case in nearly 70 years to address the Second Amendment's scope.

Even as the appeals court overturned the D.C. ban on most handgun ownership, Silberman wrote that the Second Amendment is still "subject to the same sort of reasonable restrictions that have been recognized as limiting, for instance, the First Amendment."

Such restrictions might include gun registration to provide the government with information about how many people would be armed if militia service was required, firearms testing to promote public safety or restrictions on gun ownership for criminals or those deemed mentally ill.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney general's office would not comment on the ruling.

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[mawilson 2,133]

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court overturned the District of Columbia's long-standing handgun ban Friday, rejecting the city's argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applied only to militias.

Gotta love this country

[Jasman0717 8]

This guy is some piece of work

[derekkj 0]

"They're trying to harass me and embarrass me, and they ought to stop it," Barry told WUSA-TV.

He does it all to himself trust me. Only in DC can the mayor get caught doing crack and get reelected. Sigh.

[Heracles 417]

This guy was caught dealing drugs yet was still voted in again as mayor.. These are actual quotes taken from Mayor Marion Barry, of Washington, D.C.

"The contagious people of Washington have stood firm against diversity during this long period of increment weather." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"I promise you a police car on every sidewalk." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"First, it was not a strip bar, it was an erotic club. And second, what can I say? I'm a night owl." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"B###h set me up." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"I am clearly more popular than Reagan. I am in my third term. Where's Reagan? Gone after two! Defeated by George Bush and Michael Dukakis no less." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"The laws in this city are clearly racist. All laws are racist. The law of gravity is racist." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"I am making this trip to Africa because Washington is an international city, just like Tokyo, Nigeria or Israel. As mayor, I am an international symbol. Can you deny that to Africa?" -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"People have criticized me because my security detail is larger than the president's. But you must ask yourself: are there more people who want to kill me than who want to kill the president? I can assure you there are." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"The brave men who died in Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate sacrifice." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"I read a funny story about how the Republicans freed the slaves. The Republicans are the ones who created slavery by law in the 1600's. Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and he was not a Republican." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"What right does Congress have to go around making laws just because they deem it necessary?" -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"People blame me because these water mains break, but I ask you, if the water mains didn't break, would it be my responsibility to fix them then? WOULD IT!?!" -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

"I am a great mayor; I am an upstanding Christian man; I am an intelligent man; I am a deeply educated man; I am a humble man." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

Edited March 9, 2007 by Infidel

[peejay 327]

The people of D.C. need handguns to defend themselves from lunatics like Marion Barry! The guy is menace to society...but I'm sure there are a passel of morons that would vote for him if he ran for office again. There's no fool like an old fool!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Barry pleaded guilty in 2005 to misdemeanors for failing to file tax returns covering 1999 to 2004. As part of his plea bargain, Barry agreed to file future federal and local tax returns annually. Prosecutors now charge that Barry missed deadlines for filing federal and D.C. tax returns for 2005.

Appeals court overturns D.C. gun ban

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court overturned the District of Columbia's long-standing handgun ban Friday, rejecting the city's argument that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applied only to militias.

1. File future tax returns annually? Quite a punishment. Welcome to our world.

2. Washington DC has the toughest gun laws in the USA and is one of the most dangerous cities in the USA. Imagine that.

[Marc and Olga 0]

The law of gravity is racist." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

:lol:

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

2. Washington DC has the toughest gun laws in the USA and is one of the most dangerous cities in the USA. Imagine that.

can't get the libs to connect the dots on that.............

[Lewis 0]

DC is in a different universe than the rest of the country. Nice museums and monuments, but I would not want to live there.

[Lewis 0]

As for the gun ban, some changes may be happening. Who knows how this one will turn out?

D.C.'s Ban On Handguns In Homes Is Thrown Out

Fenty Promises to Fight Appellate Court's Ruling

By David Nakamura and Robert Barnes

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, March 10, 2007; Page A01

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the District's longtime ban on keeping handguns in homes is unconstitutional.

The 2 to 1 decision by an appellate panel outraged D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and other city leaders, who said that they will appeal and that gun-related crimes could rise if the ruling takes effect. The outcome elated opponents of strict gun controls because it knocked down one of the toughest laws in the country and vindicated their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution's language on the right to bear arms.

(...)

Joined by D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, left, Winston Robinson Jr., assistant chief of police, comments after the ruling on the city's handgun ban in homes. Fenty said he was "outraged." (By Susan Biddle -- The Washington Post)

The panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit became the nation's first federal appeals court to overturn a gun-control law by declaring that the Second Amendment grants a person the right to possess firearms. One other circuit shares that viewpoint on individual rights, but others across the country say the protection that the Second Amendment offers relates to states being able to maintain a militia. Legal experts said the conflict could lead to the first Supreme Court review of the issue in nearly 70 years.

The District's law bars all handguns unless they were registered before 1976; it was passed that year to try to curb gun violence, but it has come under attack during the past three decades in Congress and in the courts. Yesterday's ruling guts key parts of the law but does not address provisions that effectively bar private citizens from carrying guns outside the home.

Fenty (D) said the city is committed to pursuing additional appeals, adding: "I am personally deeply disappointed and frankly outraged by this decision. It flies in the face of laws that have helped decrease gun violence in the District of Columbia."

City attorneys said that it would take at least 30 days for the court's decision to go into effect, during which time the District probably will file its appeal. During an appeal, which could last more than a year, the current law would remain in effect, the lawyers said.

Fenty said city officials will "do everything in our power to work to get the decision overturned, and we will vigorously enforce our handgun laws during that time."

The ruling was the latest development in four years of litigation waged by six D.C. residents who said they wanted to keep guns in their homes for self-defense. Alan Gura, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said, "This is a tremendous victory for the civil rights of all Americans."

Senior Judge Laurence H. Silberman wrote the majority opinion, also signed by Thomas B. Griffith. Karen LeCraft Henderson dissented. All three were appointed by Republican presidents.

"We conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms," Silberman said in the 58-page majority ruling.

The residents filed their lawsuit -- Parker v. the District of Columbia-- months after then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft declared that gun bans violate the Second Amendment. They were aided by the Cato Institute, a nonprofit group that advocates personal liberties.

The suit said the ban on handgun ownership violates the Second Amendment, which states: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

(...)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7030902416.html

[GaryC 7]

"The brave men who died in Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate sacrifice." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

Is this the new math they are teaching now?

[Lewis 0]

"The brave men who died in Vietnam, more than 100% of which were black, were the ultimate sacrifice." -- M. Barry, Mayor of Washington, DC

Is this the new math they are teaching now?