Former D.C. Mayor Barry to Appear in Court Later this Week

WASHINGTON, July 5, 2009 -- A Superior Court appearance is scheduled Thursday this week for the former District of Columbia mayor Marion Barry, 73, who was arrested Saturday on charges that he stalked a female acquaintance that evening.

Barry, a current D.C. Council member, was in church all day Sunday and unavailable for comment, said spokeswoman Natalie Williams, but he planned to address reporters Monday morning alongside his attorney.

Barry was arrested on charges of misdemeanor stalking, after a woman in a car flagged down an officer and claimed that Barry was chasing her in another car, according to a press release on the Park Police Web site.

Barry was released on citation with a mandatory court appearance early Sunday morning.

Police did not name Barry's accuser, but Williams said Sunday afternoon that the 40-year-old woman is somebody that Barry had helped financially during "various stages of instability" in her life.

According to Williams, the woman and Barry are friends and had lunch earlier in the day. Barry ran into the woman again during Fourth of July festivities in Anacostia Park but was on his way home, alone, when the incident occurred, Williams said.

Barry was arrested, and charged with misdemeanor stalking Saturday evening and released sometime early Sunday morning.

The accusations against Barry constitute a "betrayal," said Williams, who added that the woman has accused Barry of stalking her before. Barry plans to fight the charges and questions his treatment by police, she said.

The stalking charges are the latest in a long string of legal troubles for Barry.

Barry served four terms as mayor. In his third, he was videotaped in 1990 in a hotel room smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting. He served six months in prison and in 1994 regained the mayor's office.

Barry is currently on probation in a federal tax evasion case.

The AP contributed to this report.