Times wires
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO — After more than seven years and an untold amount of man hours and money, federal prosecutors failed to convince a jury that Barry Bonds lied about steroid use.
Bonds, the career and single-season home run king, was convicted Wednesday of a single count of obstruction of justice, but the jury could not decide whether Bonds lied about using performance-enhancing drugs during his career.
The conviction, rendered by a jury that listened to nearly three weeks of testimony, amounted to an extremely limited victory for prosecutors who had spent years trying to establish that Bonds, 46, used steroids during his career then lied about it under oath.
"We all agreed that he was using steroids," said juror Amber Reed, 19, a student from Pinole, Calif. "But the question was did he know he was, and on that we had no proof."
Still, the jury agreed that Bonds in 2003 had impeded a grand jury investigating performance-enhancing drug use by elite athletes. Jurors felt he went out of his way to not answer the question of whether his former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, had injected him.
The obstruction of justice charge was one of four counts he was facing in U.S. District Court.
Judge Susan Illston did not set a sentencing date, but Bonds likely will not face much, if any, time in prison.
Defense lawyers expressed confidence they would persuade Illston to set aside the conviction because of what they consider serious legal flaws in the obstruction count. Illston set May 20 for a hearing on the request.
Allen Ruby, Bonds' lead attorney, said it was significant the jury did not find Bonds lied about knowingly using performance enhancing drugs. "There was no finding adverse to Barry Bonds on those charges," he said.
Jeffrey Nedrow and Matthew Parrella, the main prosecutors, left in silence. Melinda Haag, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco who was in court to hear the verdict read, said in a statement that prosecutors "were gratified" by the lone guilty verdict and would decide whether to retry the other counts as soon as possible.
Bonds had been charged with one count of lying for saying he never knowingly used steroids. The jurors said they voted 8-4 for his acquittal on that count. On another charge that dealt with Bonds' lying about his alleged use of human growth hormone, the jurors voted 9-3 for acquittal.
Bonds had been charged with lying when he said he never was injected by anyone but his doctor. The jury voted 11-1 for conviction.