Mar 01 2009
Barry Bonds Trial Postponed Indefinitely After Judge Bars Presenting Results of Steroid Tests to the Jury
Should Barry Bonds be thanking his lucky stars or agonizing over the continued delay of this case?
The much awaited perjury trial of former slugger Barry Bonds will not happen just yet owing to recent developments that have thrown the prosecution’s case off track. The Federal prosecutors are appealing recent rulings in the Bonds trial to be overturned by the Higher Courts.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that the federal judge in charge of Bonds’ trial has prohibited prosecutors from presenting positive results of the athlete’s steroids tests .
According to the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared the positive urine samples as inadmissible in the trial because prosecutors would not be able to prove without reasonable doubt that the specimens indeed belonged to Barry Bonds.
Another development which is considered as a major setback in the government’s case against Bonds is that Judge Illston also barred the so-called doping calendars from being introduced as evidence. These calendars, which allegedly contained schedules made by Bonds’ former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, aided in the regular administering of performance enhancing steroids.
Judge Illson earlier ruled that the federal prosecutors would need a direct testimony from Greg Anderson before they would be allowed to introduce such evidence into the trial. However, Anderson’s counsel had earlier announced that his client will not testify in the Grand Jury trial against Bonds even if it warrants being sent to prison or being charged with contempt of court.
After the prosecution filed an appeal against the introduction of what they considered were key pieces of evidence to the perjury trial, an irked Judge Illston told lawyers that they had no option but to wait until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issues a decision.
Had everything pushed through as scheduled, AP reported that no less than 90 potential jurors were scheduled to show up in court on March 2. Court personnel, including security and maintenance have all been briefed and prepared to meet the mad rush of media and kibitzers in the much awaited trial.
For his part, embattled Major League Baseball star Barry Bonds can only wince at the turn of events. The former all-time home run champ’s dream of returning to the Major League is all but shot. Since he was indicted in November 2007, he has had no career. Bonds only hope was for the Grand Jury trial to commence and end – in his favor – by the end of the month. This would have given him a window of opportunity to sign a contract with a team for the next season.
Bonds perjury trial stemmed from reportedly lying before a grand jury in December 2003. At that time he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing steroids.
Bonds’ attorneys are also protesting the trial postponement and called the delay a waste of judicial resources.
Legal analysts for their part are saying that government prosecutors are on the losing end of this appeal against Judge Illston’s rulings. Statistically, Appeals courts grant lower courts broad discretion when it comes to deciding on pre-trial matters – including which pieces of evidence the jury will be allowed to hear.
I agree with the judges ruling and hope the appeals court will do so as well. It appears that the trumped up charges and all the allegations are based on purely suspect records. The so called “doping calendar” and then the very questionable Balco specimen.
First, Bond’s trainer Anderson, has already refused to testify and went to jail when he refused to testify against Bonds the way the prosecutors wanted him to and then the Balco founder stated that Bonds did not get steroids from his lab,(”An attorney familiar with the investigation told ESPN’s T.J. Quinn that the government obtained the results of positive steroids tests for Bonds during a search of BALCO facilities. BALCO founder Victor Conte also served three months in prison after he pleaded guilty to steroids distribution. But Conte has long insisted that Bonds didn’t get steroids from his lab.”) and would testify to that fact. (”Conte told ESPN the Magazine’s Shaun Assael that he “may” testify on Bonds’ behalf that the sample the government claims Bonds tested positive for steroids on, is not what it seems.”) So how could the so-called “results of positive steroids tests for Bonds” be obtained by “government investigators”? (Forged or planted maybe?)
Please, this whole case is such a farce. Why have the so-called “government investigators” used tax-payer money for well over six years to target and investigate the use of steroids by top athletes, for what good reason? Then, in the case of Bonds, due to pure speculation about his change in size they have pursued this to no end to prove “in any way they can” that they were right in their assumption. Even if they did have all of the above, that still does not prove Bonds knew what he was being given to perjure himself.
This whole investigation is nothing more than a “witch hunt” to bring down high achieving mainly minority athletes, sacrificing others to achieve the end goal. Now, I wonder if Judge Susan Illston will be targeted and brought down for her fair judgment.
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