Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Inmate Barry Denies Sex Act With Visitor

Former Washington Mayor Marion Barry, in a phone call from prison, forcefully denied that a woman performed oral sex on him in a visiting room. In the interview with WRC-TV, he called the prisoner who alleged the incident at the Petersburg, Va., prison a “professional liar.” A U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman said authorities are examining inmate Floyd Archer Robertson’s charge that a guard arranged for a prostitute to visit Barry in the room where the incident allegedly occurred Dec. 29 in view of inmates and visitors. Barry, who is serving a six-month sentence for cocaine possession, said his visitor is not a prostitute.