The biggest trial of the century was centered on Barry Bonds, America’s home run king. The baseball slugger was found guilty of obstruction of justice charge but was acquitted on other charges. In the four day deliberations, the members of the jury were divided on the issue whether Bonds really lied about his use of performance enhancing drugs like steroids and human growth hormones. They were all certain that Bonds failed to cooperate fully to the grand jury investigating BALCO, a company providing professional athletes with designer steroids.

The outcome was a big blow to the prosecution because they were not able to prove that the home run king lied about his steroid use. With so many resources spent on the investigation and a possible retrial on the case, critics were right that the government had a weak case against the baseball slugger.

If we look at the votes of the 12-man jury, the prosecution failed to provide enough evidences to convince them that Bonds should be sent to jail. The jury voted 8-4 in acquitting Bonds of lying about his steroids use and they voted 9-3 in acquitting him on lying about HGH use charge.

Possible Re-trial or Overturn Conviction

The lawyers of Bonds already seek to overthrow the conviction and may ask for a retrial. The prosecution, on the other hand, is silent whether they would agree to a retrial.

In the May 20 post-trial hearing set by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, both the defense and the prosecution agreed to delay the hearing on the Barry Bonds case. The motion filed by the defense asking the judge to overrule the jury by declaring Bonds not guilty of obstruction of justice was reset next month.

June 17 Next Hearing

Both parties approved the June 17 court hearing to allow them to prepare and evaluate their next strategy on the case. “The parties agree that additional time is needed to evaluate the basis and need for post-trial motions, to evaluate witness availability in the event of a retrial and to ensure counsel has the time necessary” to prepare “in the event of a possible retrial,” said in a court filing this week.

If the conviction will not be overturned, Bonds may serve a 15 to 21 months prison term. However, in similar cases handled by Judge Susan Illston, the sentence is usually reduced to six months to 1 year home confinement. Bonds is the 11 defendant in the BALCO case. Some of the professional athletes who either pleaded guilty or convicted were cyclist Tammy Thomas, track coach Graham Trevor, Olympic track and field athlete Marion Jones and NFL defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield.

No Conviction, Easier Hall of Fame

Meanwhile, some baseball fans are asking whether Barry Bonds will still enter the Hall of Fame because of the conviction. Members of the baseball sports writers of America were divided on the issue. Some predicted that in due time, Barry Bonds will get the nod of the voters and this may also happen to Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens. And it will be easier for the voters if Bonds will be cleared of all the charges specifically his alleged use of designer steroids and human growth hormones.

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