Barry Bonds Found Guilty on One Charge

[RockaFowler]

We just broke the news on air. Yahoo has it as well

[TZ]

1. Mistrial on the rest

I'm not surprised.

[Auggie]

2. Barry Bonds guilty of obstruction of justice

sfgate.com (04-13) 14:42 PDT SAN FRANCISCO --

A federal jury in San Francisco convicted Barry Bonds today of one count of obstruction of justice for testifying that he had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs on his way to becoming baseball's all-time home-run king.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict on three counts of perjury against the 46-year-old former outfielder for the Giants.

The charges stemmed from Bonds' 2003 testimony before a federal grand jury investigating the steroid scandal involving the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative of Burlingame.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial on the perjury counts.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/04/13/MN491J01BR.DTL#ixzz1JRV71Tkn

Each count against Bonds carried a possible maximum sentence of 10 years, but federal sentencing guidelines recommend 15 to 21 months in prison for a conviction.

LINK: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/04/barry-bonds-verdict-.html

"convicted Barry Bonds today of one count of obstruction of justice for testifying that he had never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs..."

The jury evidently believes Bonds knew he was taking performance-enhancing drugs.

[joeybee12]

3. Perjury is a tough one to prove and understand...me thinks he might

plea-deal down on those since the prosecutors will try to re-trial since they got him on one count.

[El Supremo]

4. "they still had issues to discuss"????

(snip)

Defense counsel moved for a directed verdict to dismiss the remaining charge or a new trial. The two sides will set a date to discuss that with Illston.

(snip)

The outcome was made even more dramatic by a misunderstanding between the jury and the court. The jury informed the court early Wednesday afternoon that it had reached a verdict, but when court was called back in session there was confusion about what exactly they had concluded.

Illston called the two legal sides together to determine how to approach the situation. Defense attorney Allen Ruby and lead prosecutor Matthew Parrella agreed to send a note to the jury via Illston to determine exactly what the status of their deliberations was. Illston decided instead to bring the jury in the courtroom.

The confusion began when a juror informed the court clerk that they had reached a verdict, but when she asked them to return their notes -- they cannot keep them after the trial -- they said they still had issues to discuss, sending the conclusion of the trial into limbo....

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110408&content_id=17509904&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

[Upton]

5. Interesting...

The obstruction of justice count was a complicated charge that asked jurors to decide if Bonds was being evasive when making any one of seven statements to the grand jury. He was convicted on a single statement about his childhood as the son of major leaguer Bobby Bonds and his relationship with Anderson -- it did not address performance-enhancing drugs.
-------
The foreman of the jury, who would only give his first name, Fred, said if prosecutors want to "pursue this case, they're going to have to do more homework than they did."

A juror who also gave just her first name, Amber, said that the final votes were 8-4 to acquit Bonds of lying about steroids and 9-3 to acquit him on lying about HGH use. The panel voted 11-1 to convict him of getting an injection from someone other than his doctor, with one woman holding out, she said.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6347014&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

[El Supremo]

6. It'll be thrown out

Craig Calcaterra Apr 13, 2011, 5:42 PM EDT

UPDATE: More mystery. It’s being reported that the basis of the obstruction conviction was the jury finding that Bonds obstructed justice with respect to his “Statement C” as listed in Count 5. The underlined part of the following is “Statement C”

Q: Did Greg ever give you anything that required a syringe to inject yourself with?

A: I’ve only had one doctor touch me. And that’s my only personal doctor. Greg, 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 about fishing, some other stuff, we’ll be good friends, you come around talking about baseball, you go on. I don’t talk about his business. You know what I mean? …

Q: Right.

A: That’s what keeps our friendship. You know, I am sorry, but that – 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…

That is the answer that, according to the jury, obstructed justice. This despite the fact that the government lawyers questioning him had every opportunity to follow up, to clarify and to tell Barry Bonds that he wasn’t answering their question. An opportunity that they didn’t take, presumably because at the time they didn’t think that the answer Bonds gave was particularly problematic.

So: Bonds saying that he was a “celebrity child” who didn’t get into anyone’s business obstructed justice and brought down a prosecution over seven years in the making.
You cool with that?

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/04/13/breaking-barry-bonds-guilty-of-obstruction-of-justice-but-not-perjury-which-makes-no-sense-at-all/related

[madinmaryland]

7. There's only one fucking thread about this??? WTF???

And there are only 6 responses. What the hell is wrong with everyone here?

:D

[El Supremo]

8. They are all waiting for the next Ohio State scandal to be announced.

Barriod Bonds is old news.

[Auggie]

9. Did I hear a rimshot?

[El Supremo]

10. Like I said before...

I don't care if he goes to jail (or even convicted). I just want him banned from baseball for life.

[TZ]

11. +1

Is there anyone outside of the SF area that doesn't believe he's a lying cheating steroid user? I think the fact that he WASN'T aquitted on some very difficult to prove charges makes that case that he's not believed in general. I've sat on juries, and anyone who tries to make the case that a hung jury is the same as being aquitted is being ignorant. If he can't get cleared of these charges in the one place where he's still thought of somewhat positively than I think he's in big trouble in terms of getting into the HOF. He might get in eventually, but I don't think its going to be easy.

[trumad]

12. I don't think he'll ever get in .....

McGuire, Palmero, Sosa, ---none of these cheaters should get in.

There are a couple of members, and ex-members here on DU who have their heads so far up BB's ass that they will never be able to admit he is a cheater.

Therefore, these dumbasses can never be taken seriously about anything they say and post in this forum.