B*tch Once Again Sets Up Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry, This Time for Stalking

The story is a little convoluted and the crime being described here is hazy, but Marion Barry, the ’80s and ’90s mayor of Washington, D.C. who was famously charged with possession of crack cocaine, imprisoned for six months, and then re-elected, has run afoul of the law again.  His sometimes-girlfriend contacted police after Barry allegedly camped out outside her house and then followed her to a park:

Watts-Brighthaupt, the mother of two girls, says she never felt her life was in danger as Barry was “trying to catch me.” But she said she has “tons and tons of evidence to prove” that Barry was stalking her in a way that was not life-threatening.

I know, right: what’s the crime in that?  

Hilariously, Barry went for the ad hominem in defending himself:

Through a spokeswoman yesterday, Barry called the charges unfounded and asked prosecutors to drop them. Natalie Williams, the spokeswoman, said that Barry feels “betrayed” because of the emotional and financial support he has provided Watts-Brighthaupt, 40, over the years and that he suggested she is unstable. In April, Barry made news after he paid $800 at an auction to buy Watts-Brighthaupt an opera jacket even as he struggled to repay back taxes.

Barry is currently a city councilman, though he was nailed for federal and local tax evasion in 2007.  In 2002, he was found with cocaine and marijuana in his car, though he claimed that they had been planted there.  And who can forget the event that started it all, 1990′s virtuoso crack pipe surveillance video performance?  His line still holds the gold standard for crime-in-office excuses.  ”The b*tch set me up!”

Source: Washington Post.