As the steroid case of the home run king progresses, the defense team is slowly gaining momentum after 2 witnesses of the prosecution gave conflicting testimonies. After hearing several witnesses, the court have not yet heard of any testimony that says Barry Bonds explicitly used anabolic steroids. Most of these testimonies were based on observations and second hand information.

Personal Assistant Witnessed the Injection

This week, the government called to the witness stand the former personal assistant of Barry Bonds. Kathy Hoskins, a childhood friend and former assistant, told the court that she personally witnessed Greg Anderson injecting Bonds with something. It happened in 2002 at the Bay Area home of Barry Bonds. Ms. Hoskins said that while she was filling a suitcase, Anderson came into the bedroom. “Barry was like, ‘Let’s do it right here,’” Kathy said. She described Anderson as a little bit reluctant because of her presence but Bonds assured the trainer that there was no problem with Kathy. “That’s my girl. She ain’t going to say nothing to nobody,” Bonds allegedly told Anderson.

In Kathy’s account, Anderson injected Bonds in the belly button with a regular, normal sized syringe. However, she did not ask or was not told about the substance injected to Bonds. In one conversation with the baseball slugger, Kathy said that Bonds told her its something that was undetectable but did not say if it is an anabolic steroid.

In the cross examination, Kathy told the court that she did not want to testify against Barry Bonds and it was her brother, Steve, who requested the government to include her in the list of witnesses. Kathy knows that Bonds reported her brother to the FBI and in turn her brother also reported Bonds’ alleged steroid abuse.

Doctor Contradicts Steve Hoskins’ Testimony

Another witness from the government also testified this week. Dr. Arthur Ting, the former personal doctor and orthopedic surgeon of the home run king, told the jury that Steve Hoskins only ask him about anabolic steroids once and never told him about Bonds’ alleged steroid use. Earlier this week, Hoskins told the court that he discussed with Dr. Ting the use of anabolic steroids of Bonds more than 50 times. Hoskins also alleged that the doctor told him to persuade Bonds to stop steroid use.

Dr. Ting replied in the negative when asked by defense lawyer Christina Arguedas about Hoskins’ claim. “Did Stevie ever say to you I need to get the information so I can get it back to Barry so we would know what the effects of the steroids were? Did he ever say that?” asked Arguedas.

Corticosteroid and Anabolic Steroid Similar Side Effects

The doctor admitted that he prescribed Bonds with corticosteroids, another type of steroid. This is to help alleviate the condition of Bonds after surgeries. He performed at least 8 surgeries on Bonds during the slugger’s baseball career in the MLB. The prosecution asked earlier if anabolic steroids can cause side effects such as acne, bloating, decreased sexual desire and mood swings and Dr Ting answered in the affirmative.

However, during the cross examination, the doctor said that corticosteroids, which are legally prescribed steroids, can also cause similar side effects common to anabolic steroids use.

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