Barry Bonds' Lawyers Appeal His Felony Conviction

by Frederick H. Lowe

Lawyers for Major League Baseball's home-run king Barry Bonds have appealed his conviction for federal obstruction of justice, arguing that Bonds was found guilty of a felony based on conduct with which he was not charged in the indictment, as the grand jury clause requires.

Bonds' lawyers filed the appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on May 3, 2012, to overturn his April 13, 2010, conviction for obstruction of justice.  On Nov. 15, 2007, federal prosecutors indicted Bonds on four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice.  The four perjury counts eventually were dismissed.

Federal prosecutors accused Bonds of obstruction justice based on his Dec. 4, 2003, testimony before a federal grand jury. The grand jury was investigating the use of steroids by athletes sold by Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (Balco), which is headquartered in Burlingame, Calif. Bonds admitted receiving supplements from Balco, but he denied being injected with steroids.

During the grand jury proceedings, prosecutors asked Bonds if Greg Anderson, his personal trainer, gave him anything that required a syringe to inject himself with. The transcript of Bonds' response follows:

“I've only had one doctor touch me,” Bonds answered. “And that's my only personal doctor. Like I said, we don't get into each others' personal lives. We're friends, but I don't, we don't sit around and talk baseball, because he knows I don't want—don't come to my house talking baseball. If you want to come to my house and talk fishing, some other stuff, we'll be good friends. You come around talking baseball, you go on. I don't talk about his business. You know what I mean."

The next statement was “Right” made by an unnamed prosecutor.

Bonds continued: "That's what keeps our friendship. You know, I am sorry, but you know, that ---I was a celebrity child, not just in baseball by my own instincts. I became a celebrity child with a famous father. I just don't get into other people's business because of my father's situation, you see.”

The response is called statement “C.”

Bonds' lawyers Riordan & Horgan argue in their 70-page brief that at the time Bonds digressed there was no question pending and the remark was immaterial.

“The indictment on which Mr. Bonds was tried did not mention statement 'C,'” Bonds' lawyers wrote. “The indictment simply stated that Mr. Bonds gave testimony that was ‘intentionally evasive, false and misleading, including but not limited to the false statements made by the defendant as charged in counts one through four  in this indictment.’ Thus, the indictment only gave specific notice that the government would pursue an obstruction conviction based on the four statements alleged in the false declaration counts.”

They were:
•    Bonds never knowingly took steroids provided by Anderson (count 1)
•    Anderson never injected him with anything (count 2)
•    Anderson never gave him human growth hormone (count 3)
•    And that prior to the 2003 baseball season, Anderson never gave him anything but vitamins (count 4)

The government dismissed count four during the trial, and a jury deadlocked on the counts one, two and three. Those counts were subsequently dismissed by federal prosecutors.

Riordan & Horgan, a San Francisco-based law firm, argued that “truthful statements [statement ‘c’] do not constitute obstruction of justice” and that the conviction must be reversed because the evidence was insufficient to establish that statement “c” was unresponsive, intentionally obstructive and material.

On Dec. 16, 2011, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston sentenced Bonds to two years’ probation, including home confinement, for his count 5 conviction.

Bonds, who played for the San Francisco Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates, holds Major League Baseball’s single-season home run record of 73 swats into the bleachers. In addition, he holds the career home run record of 762 round trippers.