A federal jury on Wednesday found Barry Bonds guilty on one
count of obstruction of justice, but deadlocked on three perjury
charges. Before the verdict was read, the defense and prosecution
agreed that federal Judge Susan Illston should accept the one
verdict and declare a mistrial on the other counts.
SAN FRANCISCO
A federal jury on Wednesday found Barry Bonds guilty on one count of obstruction of justice, but deadlocked on three perjury charges.
Before the verdict was read, the defense and prosecution agreed that federal Judge Susan Illston should accept the one verdict and declare a mistrial on the other counts.
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The verdict was the culmination of the largest doping scandal in sports history, which began in the fall of 2003 with a raid on BALCO, a now-defunct California Peninsula laboratory linked to supplying scores of elite athletes with performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds, now 46, was always the biggest name tarnished by the scandal, and wound up in the government’s crosshairs from the time he testified before the federal grand jury that was probing the BALCO case.
The trial was an exploration of the truth, or falsity, of Bonds’ grand jury testimony and whether he lied when he denied knowingly using steroids as he chased baseball’s home run records. By the time the trial unfolded, Bonds’ defense team was conceding that he may have used newfangled steroids from BALCO, but argued that he was unaware he was receiving performance enhancing drugs from his personal trainer, Greg Anderson.
Anderson was a crucial figure in the case, largely because he refused to testify against his star client and childhood buddy. He spent the duration of the trial in prison for refusing to testify, and was only released last week when jurors began their deliberations.
As a result, the government relied on a number of former members of Bonds’ inner circle to build their case. This included Kimberly Bell, his former mistress, who testified of their nine-year affair and how Bonds told her in one conversation he was using steroids, as well as describing the physical changes he underwent as a result of steroid use.
Steve Hoskins, Bonds’ former business associate, also testified that Bonds told him of steroid use, and complained of a “sore butt” from steroid injections.
Defense lawyers attacked Bell and Hoskins’ credibility, depicting both as bitter and vengeful over their splits with Bonds.
Kathy Hoskins, Steve’s sister and Bonds’ former personal shopper, provided crucial testimony for the government, telling the jury she saw Anderson inject Bonds in the stomach.
Prosecutors also had evidence that Bonds failed a 2003 drug test administered by Major League Baseball, testing positive for the “clear,” a designer steroid furnished by BALCO, and a female fertility drug used by male athletes to mask the effects of steroids.
Prosecutors insisted that it strained credulity to buy Bonds’ story that a superstar athlete would be oblivious to the fact he was taking steroids, as he bulked up and maintained a cozy relationship with Anderson, who was at the same time providing steroids to other athletes, including baseball players. Some of those players, including former Oakland Athletics star Jason Giambi, testified in the trial about their relationship with Anderson.
Defense lawyers portrayed the case as a witchhunt for the biggest sports star linked to BALCO.
For Bonds, the fight against the government has been a bid to preserve his legacy as one of baseball’s all-time greats, worthy of the Hall of Fame. But his case was one of many to expose baseball’s steroids era, with the trial providing perhaps the most candid, unvarnished portrait of the sport’s steroid problem.
Roger Clemens, arguably the greatest pitcher of that same era, will follow Bonds in a courtroom this summer, when he faces perjury charges for lying to Congress about using steroids.
— Story by Howard Mintz, San Jose Mercury News
