Home run king Barry Bonds indicted on perjury charges

[Bouncer]

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- A federal grand jury indictment on Thursday charged Barry Bonds, baseball's record home run hitter, with perjury and obstruction of justice and accused him of testing positive for performance-enhancing steroids.

Bonds, 43, repeatedly denied he had knowingly taken performance-enhancing drugs during his December 2003 testimony in an investigation that focused on a San Francisco-area laboratory.

The grand jury in San Francisco returned a five count indictment against Bonds, which includes four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice and accuses him of lying when he said he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by his personal trainer, Greg Anderson.

The indictment includes the first official public acknowledgement that Bonds allegedly tested positive for steroids and other performance enhancing drugs.

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for Bonds and other professional athletes," the indictment said.

Perjury convictions carry possible prison terms of up to five years, while obstruction of justice can bring a 10-year sentence.

Anderson spent three months in prison after admitting distributing steroids and was later jailed for refusing to cooperate with prosecutors investigating whether Bonds lied to the grand jury. Bonds' lawyer, Michael Raines, denounced the investigation as a "witch hunt" at the time.

In a written statement Thursday, Bonds' attorneys expressed disappointment that "the government did not extend us the courtesy of sharing a copy of the indictment."

"It goes without saying that we look forward to rebutting these unsupported charges in court," said the statement.

Bonds has denied taking steroids at any time in 2001 when he was pursuing the single-season home run record. "During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment reads. He is also charged with lying that Anderson never injected him with steroids.

President Bush, a former baseball team owner who has spoken against steroid use, is "very disappointed to hear this," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. "As this case is now in the criminal justice system, we will refrain from any further specific comments about it. But clearly this is a sad day for baseball."

Bonds was granted immunity for his December 4, 2003, testimony before the grand jury. The indictment states Bonds was promised his testimony would not be used against him except in the cases of "perjury, false declaration or otherwise failing to comply with the court's order."

Bonds filed for free agency last month on the first possible day after the World Series ended with Boston's sweep of the Colorado Rockies -- severing his tenure with San Francisco. Giants owner Peter Magowan told him last month the club would not bring him back for a 16th season.

Bonds, who has hit 762 homers, broke Hank Aaron's record with a shot into the right-center seats off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik at San Francisco on August 7. But his achievements on the field have long been shadowed by the drug-use allegations.

He has been selected for 14 All-Star games, a record seven National League Most Valuable Player awards and eight Gold Glove awards

[YellowJacket]

Sweet!

[The_Grinder]

Good. Glad to hear it and I can't wait to see that big ol * beside that fuckin record!!

[hitmansb]

They better have more evidence than they did the first time they talked about indicting him. Aside from there being new evidence, the only way I can see them getting him in a jury trial is if Greg Anderson flips on him ,which ain't gonna happen.

[Shibby]

Aside from there being new evidence, the only way I can see them getting him in a jury trial is if Greg Anderson flips on him ,which ain't gonna happen.

I have always been waiting for some rich baseball fanatic to pay Anderson an insane amount of money just to get Bonds.

[babyblues]

Good. Glad to hear it and I can't wait to see that big ol * beside that fuckin record!!

No asterick necessary. Even if he did use steroids, how many of the pitchers that he hit HRs off used steroids too? I'll bet it evens out in the end. That's what I think, but it's all hypothetical. I still don't see that steroids are going to help you hit HR better in MLB such that the numbers are so inflated. It takes insane hand eye coordination to even make contact with a ball traveling toward you at 90mph. You're hitting a round ball with a round bat. It doesn't matter how strong you are, if you don't make contact in just the right spot on the bat, you won't hit any HRs. That sweet spot is pretty small. They have to spot the ball, decide where they think it's going to go, decide if they want to swing at it or not, decide where they want to hit it...all within a fraction of a second. Steroids don't make that happen. Granted, some fly balls that might not have been HRs will probably just clear the fence, but I don't think that alone should warrant an asterick.

Babe Ruth hit his HRs during the "dead ball" era of baseball. Hank Aaron hit his HRs after the "rabbit ball" had been invented. The baseballs that they used when Babe Ruth played were not as lively as the baseballs that they used when Hank Aaron played. So, shouldn't there be an asterick next to Hank Aaron's record too? He had a distinct advantage with better technology. If we're going to get that anal about it, every record should have an asterick next to it. Why has no one accused Ricky Henderson of using steroids? Wouldn't steroids help you run faster? You can't just question every record. I just think it's all kind of silly.

[Bouncer]

No asterick necessary. Even if he did use steroids, how many of the pitchers that he hit HRs off used steroids too? I'll bet it evens out in the end. That's what I think, but it's all hypothetical. I still don't see that steroids are going to help you hit HR better in MLB such that the numbers are so inflated. It takes insane hand eye coordination to even make contact with a ball traveling toward you at 90mph. You're hitting a round ball with a round bat. It doesn't matter how strong you are, if you don't make contact in just the right spot on the bat, you won't hit any HRs. That sweet spot is pretty small. They have to spot the ball, decide where they think it's going to go, decide if they want to swing at it or not, decide where they want to hit it...all within a fraction of a second. Steroids don't make that happen. Granted, some fly balls that might not have been HRs will probably just clear the fence, but I don't think that alone should warrant an asterick.

Babe Ruth hit his HRs during the "dead ball" era of baseball. Hank Aaron hit his HRs after the "rabbit ball" had been invented. The baseballs that they used when Babe Ruth played were not as lively as the baseballs that they used when Hank Aaron played. So, shouldn't there be an asterick next to Hank Aaron's record too? He had a distinct advantage with better technology. If we're going to get that anal about it, every record should have an asterick next to it. Why has no one accused Ricky Henderson of using steroids? Wouldn't steroids help you run faster? You can't just question every record. I just think it's all kind of silly.

plus the stadium that babe ruth hit a ton of his HR's at was small as fuck. you could take a ball from the plate and throw it over the wall. lmao.

[blm]

They better have more evidence than they did the first time they talked about indicting him.

Looks like the "evidence" is full of legal holes. Although the reality is obvious.



SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- "I've never seen these documents," Barry Bonds said.

He was testifying before a federal grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, and had just been shown what prosecutors say was a positive steroid test conducted on a player named Barry B.

"I've never seen these papers," Bonds repeated, according to Thursday's indictment charging Bonds with perjury and obstruction of justice.

Those test results may now be the vital linchpin to proving he lied under oath.

Bonds' lawyers are expected to fiercely attack their reliability, much the way O.J. Simpson's legal team undermined the football star's murder case by questioning the handling of his blood samples.

Bonds' attorney, Michael Rains, declined to comment. But BALCO founder Victor Conte offered some insight Friday into how the slugger's legal team might cast doubt on the evidence.

It was November 2000, and Bonds was preparing for the season in which he would shatter Mark McGwire's single-season home run record.

According to Conte, himself a convicted steroids dealer, Bonds would visit the lab on Saturdays and after normal business hours with an entourage that included his trainer, Greg Anderson, and his personal physician, Dr. Arthur Ting.

Anderson had convinced Bonds to use BALCO to develop a dietary and supplement regimen, which Conte designed based on the results of the blood and urine samples.

Conte said Bonds was put through the same tests as other elite athlete clients, including tests to detect the use of 30 different steroids.

Conte hired Quest Diagnostics to do a "quick and dirty" analysis of the samples, to save money. The lab charged Conte $80 per test, rather than its usual $120, after Conte agreed to cut out much of the paperwork and elaborate protocol that typically accompany drug tests.

For instance, Conte said a licensed lab technician never watched Bonds urinate in the bottle. Nor were the samples ever formally sealed, dated and signed by an independent collector. There was also no formal process for who handled the samples at Quest, Conte said.

The indictment does not explain where prosecutors obtained the results, but Conte said they were seized when federal agents raided his lab in September 2003.

"If that's the smoking gun," Conte said, "it doesn't have any bullets."

The U.S. Attorney's office in San Francisco declined to comment.

Criminal defense attorneys not affiliated with the case say the reliability of blood and urine tests are always open to second-guessing even when the forensic handling is done flawlessly.

"There is always an opportunity to attack that kind of forensic evidence through its chain of custody," said attorney William Sullivan, who recently won an acquittal for former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino on an obstruction charge alleging he withheld evidence in a terrorism trial in Detroit.

"You look at how the evidence was preserved, who handled it," Sullivan said. "You can even attack the analysis itself."

Similar chain-of-custody problems exploited by Simpson's lawyers helped derail the prosecution's murder case against him.

Los Angeles County prosecutors argued that DNA testing on blood, hair and fibers collected at the murder scene proved Simpson's blood and the blood of the two victims were present.

But Simpson's defense team was able to cast doubt on whether the evidence tested was the same as that collected at the scene by showing that each piece of DNA evidence was handled by at least three people before it was tested.

The problems with the Simpson evidence prompted law enforcement agencies to adopt more stringent protocols. Few of those protocols were followed in collecting and analyzing Bonds' blood and urine, Conte said.

"I don't think you can prove those were Barry's samples," he said.

Another vulnerable spot in the government's case is Anderson's steadfast refusal to testify against Bonds.

Because federal prosecutors were so adamant that the trainer should go to prison for refusing to testify, the trainer's lawyers -- and most other observers -- believed Anderson's testimony was necessary to indict Bonds.

But Anderson was released from prison Thursday and, according to his lawyers, he never cooperated with the investigation. He could land back in prison, however, if prosecutors decide to call him as a witness during the trial and he refuses to testify.

Criminal defense attorneys said other parts of the government's case against Bonds are ripe for attack -- none bigger than the testimony of his former mistress, Kimberly Bell.

In 2005, Bell told a grand jury investigating Bonds for perjury that the slugger told her he used steroids. But Bell is open to withering cross-examination, lawyers said.

Rains said she was miffed that Bonds didn't pay her the nearly $200,000 she demanded when their 10-year relationship ended in 2003. Bell said she was asking Bonds to keep a promise to buy her house in Arizona, but Rains said the demand amounted to extortion.

The indictment cited 19 instances in which Bonds lied during his grand jury testimony, including several denials that he took performance enhancing drugs.

Little other evidence is presented in the indictment, but that doesn't mean prosecutors don't have something else up their sleeve, legal experts said.

"He testified four years ago and they indicted him Thursday," said New York criminal defense attorney Brad Simon, a former federal prosecutor. That tells me they have a new witness or some new evidence we don't know about that seals the deal."