Outsports Discussion Board > Bonds could face federal perjury case

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ITJock

Apr 14 2006, 09:24 AM

Bonds could face federal perjury case

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal grand jury is investigating whether Barry Bonds committed perjury when he testified in 2003 that he never used steroids, a person with knowledge of the probe told The Associated Press on Thursday night.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the secrecy of the investigation.
The panel has been hearing evidence for more than a month about whether Bonds lied to a different grand jury that was investigating the BALCO scandal. The existence of the grand jury was first reported by CNN on Thursday.

Luke Macaulay, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco, told the AP that he could neither confirm nor deny the reports.
Bonds was granted immunity when he testified before the BALCO grand jury in December 2003, as long as he told the truth. According to excerpts of the testimony previously reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, Bonds testified that he used a clear substance and a cream given to him by a trainer who later pleaded guilty in a steroid-distribution ring, but said he didn't know they were steroids.

Bonds told the grand jury that Greg Anderson, his personal trainer, told him the substances he used were the nutritional supplement flaxseed oil and a rubbing balm for arthritis.

The substances Bonds described were similar to ones known as "the clear" and "the cream," two steroids at the center of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal. Investigators seized calendars that recorded schedules for Bonds' use of those drugs, as well as human growth hormone, clomid, insulin and other steroids, according to the Chronicle.

Bonds, who has always denied using steroids, left the San Francisco Giants ballpark Thursday night without answering questions about the report from reporters. When asked what he would tell his fans, Bonds responded, "Tell them I love them."

Following last month's release of the book "Game of Shadows," which details steroid use by Bonds and other players, baseball commissioner Bud Selig launched an investigation of steroids in baseball. Continued...

Rob

Bill W

Apr 14 2006, 09:59 AM

Officially rumored to be a witch hunt.

[ April 14, 2006, 09:59 AM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

aznemesis

Apr 14 2006, 03:37 PM

Oh, Bill, don't you realize this is all about the sanctity of the game! wink
Personally, I think the brouhaha is all about politicians and sports commissioners pandering to the public. Bonds is a jerk, but I've tired of the fascination with tearing the guy down that is shared by so much of the sports media. I think it's largely related to the homerun record. If it was any other record that he was approaching, it wouldn't be such a big deal. I'm not so enamoured with that particular record, so I'm not as interested in whether he used steroids or not. He probably did. So did other hitters and more than one pitcher, but Bonds is the scapegoat because he's unpopular. I'm not so sure that it's based on race, which some writers have claimed, but it is definitely related to him not being warm and fuzzy.

[ April 14, 2006, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: aznemesis ]

Adam

Apr 14 2006, 05:31 PM

In a weird way, I think baseball bigwigs--and, to a large extent, George Mitchell--could be breathing a sigh of relief over the possibility of Barry Bonds facing federal charges. With the federal investigation ongoing, those within baseball's steroid investigation can say they will delay looking into whether Barry Bonds was involved with steroids to avoid interfering with the federal investigation.

Getting Bonds for perjury--a very serious charge, we should keep in mind--would be akin to nabbing Al Capone on tax evasion. And, on a much lighter note: if Bonds is indicted, ESPN could change the name of its current show about him from "Bonds On Bonds" to "Bonds Out On Bond."

~Adam

[ April 14, 2006, 05:33 PM: Message edited by: Adam ]

billsf

Apr 15 2006, 10:09 PM

It's a witch hunt. As long as Barry Bonds denies using steroids without any knowledge of using them, he's in the "clear". No one is going to come up with any "clear" evidence that he actually took the drugs. Only a positive test for steroids could incriminate Bonds, and that's just not going to happen.

By the way, the book "Game of Shadows" is really bad. I'm 2/3 through it and it's pure garbage. These "investigative" reporters are so full of themselves, they try to make the reader feel that this is all true actual reporting of things that occurred, but all through the book they quote "confidential sources" and "unidentified acquaintances". It's crap. If the new investigation depends on this book, they've got nothing. Read the book, it's a joke. Try not to pay for it.

faydman

Apr 16 2006, 08:33 AM

bill, you've been biased on bonds forever. do you really believe he's never done any steroids or hgh?????

Bill W

Apr 17 2006, 10:25 AM

The most cogent paragraphs I've read on the circus, from Joe Sheehan of BP:

QUOTE

Bonds’ grand-jury testimony was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle, an event which became the impetus for an investigation into his life that produced a book, Game of Shadows, a book that now becomes the impetus for a perjury investigation, the news of which also gets leaked.

Maybe people don’t like Bonds’ recent bout of self-pity, but go back and read that sentence again. Think about how that cycle might make you feel if you were in the middle of it. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you, and just because you’re unpopular doesn’t mean you have to surrender all your rights as a citizen. There have still been no repercussions for the leaking of that testimony.

As was the case with those leaks, this latest information comes with no names attached, just--from the ESPN.com version of the story--\"a person with knowledge of the probe\" and \"multiple sources\" and \"the Chronicle's sources.\" Perhaps this is the way the game is played these days, but I'm distinctly uncomfortable with the process...

After four years, we have testing results that indicate that the steroid “problem” is vanishingly small. One notable star has tested positive, and your average baseball fan couldn’t name any of the other players to be suspended under the new new policy. Those average baseball fans continue to show up at baseball games in droves, pushing attendance and revenues higher, and for all the idiocy about last year’s dip in offense being connected to steroid testing, offense is up again this year (in an admittedly small sample) despite yet another increase in the penalty for getting caught. If we can get punishment for a first offender to be execution, we might push offense back to 1930 levels...

The lesson of Barry Bonds has nothing to do with steroids, or for that matter, with baseball. The lesson of Barry Bonds is this: if you’re in the public eye, you better kiss the media’s collective ass. He didn’t, and he made no effort to hide his disdain for the people who covered the game and the work they did. That attitude, as much as anything else he’s done, is why he finds himself in this situation today. He has no voice, no one providing balance, and his ham-fisted effort to get his own story out without a filter--\"Bonds on Bonds\"--is probably doing him more harm than good.

Maybe Bonds is a liar and a cheater--but almost certainly not a perjurer, given how he parsed his testimony and the difficulty of proving that charge--but there are no heroes here. The media has behaved shamefully throughout the arc of this story, slipping another notch in its long, slow descent from its former place among American institutions.

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