Jury deliberations for the trial of Major League Baseball's home run king Barry Bonds continue for a third day on Tuesday. STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe home run king is accused of lying about his steroids useJury to return Tuesday for a third day of deliberations in Bonds' perjury trialJurors hear re-reading of childhood friend's testimonyKathy Hoskins says she saw trainer inject Bonds with a needle San Francisco (CNN) -- Jurors in Barry Bonds' perjury and obstruction of justice trial will return for a third day of deliberations Tuesday. The panel failed to reach a verdict on Monday. They listened to a re-reading of the testimony of Kathy Hoskins, Bonds' childhood friend and later his personal shopper, Monday morning and then returned to the jury room for deliberations. Hoskins testified in the trial that she saw Bonds' trainer inject him with a syringe at his home in 2002. Defense lawyers argued that the woman lied about the incident to help her brother Steve Hoskins, also a key witness, who had a bitter dispute with Bonds that could have resulted in criminal charges. Major League Baseball's home run king is accused of lying to a federal grand jury in 2003 about knowingly taking anabolic steroids and getting injections from anyone but his doctors.
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Showing posts with label perjury. Show all posts
Showing posts with label perjury. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Deliberations resume next week in Barry Bonds perjury trial
Barry Bonds is charged with lying under oath when he testified about his steroids use in 2003. STORY HIGHLIGHTSBonds' trainer is ordered freed two weeks after he refused to testifyThe jury was given the Bonds perjury case to decide Thursday afternoonThe baseball legend faces three perjury counts and an obstruction of justice chargeThe charges stem from a federal probe of athletes' steroid useRELATED TOPICSBarry BondsDrugs in SportsPerjury San Francisco (CNN) -- Jurors deciding Barry Bonds' fate asked to listen again to the testimony of a key prosecution witness Friday before they recessed deliberations for the weekend in the baseball legend's perjury and obstruction of justice trial. The judge will read the transcript of Kathy Hoskins' testimony Monday morning when the jury returns for their second day of deliberations. Bonds, 46, allegedly lied to a federal grand jury about knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs and about being injected by anyone but his doctors. The three perjury counts and one count of obstruction of justice could each carry a 10-year prison sentence upon conviction. A fourth perjury charge was dropped by prosecutors Wednesday. Jurors earlier Friday were allowed to hear again two segments of a conversation secretly recorded in the San Francisco Giants' locker room by Bond's former assistant, also a key government witness. The trial began last month in a San Francisco federal courthouse less than two miles from the ballpark where Bonds broke Hank Aaron's major league home run record in August 2007. Bonds' former trainer was freed Friday from the prison where he's been held since he refused to testify the trial two weeks ago. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston found Anderson in contempt of court on the first day of trial testimony when his lawyer informed her that he would not take the stand to answer questions about Bonds' steroid use. It was the third time Anderson chose jail time over testimony. He was sent to prison for several weeks twice before when he refused to appear before a federal grand jury investigating Bonds. The absence of the trainer's testimony hampered the government's case against Bonds, who is charged with lying under oath when he testified about his steroids use in 2003 before the grand jury that was investigating an alleged sports doping scandal involving Anderson of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative. A prosecutor argued Thursday that Bonds lied because he knew the truth about his steroids use would "tinge his accomplishments" and hurt his career. "His secret was so powerful that he couldn't admit it, wouldn't admit it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Nedrow said in his closing arguments. Bonds' defense lawyer, during his closing arguments Thursday, asked jurors to acquit him because of a technical oversight by prosecutors -- an argument the government quickly rebutted. The judge's instructions to the jury say Bonds can found be found guilty only if his lies could have affected the grand jury's decisions and that Bonds knew it, defense lawyer Allen Ruby said. But none of the 25 prosecution witnesses presented evidence about what decisions the grand jury made or what they might have made, Ruby said. "Who told us about the grand jury at all?" The Internal Revenue Service agent who started the federal investigation into the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs testified that Bonds' false testimony affected his work, but Agent Jeff Novitzky was not part of the grand jury, Ruby said. "I know that this is a little technical," Ruby said. "I don't apologize for that. Every word of the law matters." The judge also instructed jurors to rely only what they heard from witnesses in the trial and not use their prior knowledge of the grand jury process, he said. "The government is trusting you to do what you are forbidden to do, and fill in the gaps," Ruby said. Prosecutor Matthew Parrella, in his rebuttal, said Novitzky's investigation and the grand jury probe were "one and the same." The jury can also read the indictments the grand jury issued in 2004 and the grand jury transcript in which "the issues are fleshed out," Parrella said. Ruby told jurors that Bonds acknowledged to the grand jury that he used the substances known as "the clear and the cream," but at the time of his testimony, even investigators didn't know what was in them. Bonds told the grand jury he thought Anderson was giving him flaxseed oil, Ruby said. Nedrow, in his closing, said it was "implausible" that Bonds would take drugs "and really not know what they were." A urine sample given by Bonds in the summer of 2003, just months before his grand jury testimony, tested positive for anabolic steroids, he said. The defense argued there was another sample taken weeks earlier that tested negative for the drugs. Defense lawyer Cristina Arguedas, in her part of closing arguments, accused prosecutors of ignoring crimes by witnesses in exchange for their testimony against Bonds. "They will forgive it if that person will say something bad about Barry Bonds," Arguedas said. Bonds' former girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, testified for the prosecution that she witnessed physical and emotional changes in Bonds that the government argued were indications of steroids use. Bell testified during the trial that she had committed perjury when she told the same grand jury in 2003 that she had not noticed Bonds' shrunken testicles. Bell also admitted she had committed mortgage fraud by lying on a home loan application, Arguedas said. During court testimony last month, Bonds' childhood friend Steve Hoskins, who worked for a decade as his assistant, said he tried to persuade Bonds to stop using anabolic steroids in 2000 and 2003. Bonds' defense lawyer argued that Hoskins' cooperation with the government was motivated by bitterness over Bonds firing him and by a desire for protection from prosecution for allegedly stealing money from Bonds. Prosecutors played an audio recording that Hoskins secretly made in the San Francisco Giants locker room of a conversation with Anderson about the hazards of steroid usage. Bonds' defense attorney suggested that Hoskins made the recording only after Bonds dismissed him in March 2003. Hoskins acknowledged that he leaked the details of the recording to investigative reporter Lance Williams, who included it in his book about the scandal, "Game of Shadows." While he never witnessed Bonds being injected with anabolic steroids, Hoskins said he saw Bonds and Anderson emerge from a bedroom with a syringe during spring training in 2000. Bonds complained to him that year that steroid injections "were making his butt sore," Hoskins said. In his 21-year major league career, Bonds also set the record for most home runs in a single season in 2001, when he hit 73. He did not officially retire after he was indicted, but he never played another game.
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Friday, April 8, 2011
Jury deliberations to begin in Barry Bonds' perjury trial
Former San Francicso Giants slugger Barry Bonds did not take the stand in his perjury trial. STORY HIGHLIGHTSNEW: Bonds' "secret was so powerful" he couldn't tell the truth, a prosecutor arguesJury deliberations could begin Thursday afternoonBarry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants broke the home run record in 2007He is charged with lying about taking performance-enhancing drugsRELATED TOPICSBarry BondsDrugs in SportsPerjury San Francisco (CNN) -- Baseball legend Barry Bonds lied to a federal grand jury investigating steroids use by athletes because he knew the truth would "tinge his accomplishments" and hurt his career, a prosecutor told jurors in Bond's perjury trial Thursday. "His secret was so powerful that he couldn't admit it, wouldn't admit it," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Nedrow said, as he began his closing arguments. The jury of eight women and four men could begin deliberations Thursday afternoon. Bonds, 46, was smiling and appeared relaxed at the start of Thursday's session, a day after his lawyers rested their case without calling any witnesses. The trial began last month in a San Francisco federal court less than two miles from the ballpark where Bonds broke Hank Aaron's major league home run record in August 2007. In November of that year, Bonds -- a star on the San Francisco Giants who ended up with 762 career home runs -- was indicted. Bonds is charged with lying under oath when he testified before the grand jury in 2003 that was investigating an alleged sports doping scandal involving Greg Anderson of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO). One of the perjury charges against Bonds was dropped Wednesday. The refusal of Anderson, who was Bonds' personal trainer, to testify hampered the government's ability to argue that Bonds lied when he said he was not given steroids before the 2003 season. Prosecutors say they have a urine sample taken in 2003 as evidence he was given steroids that season. Three charges remain, including one accusing Bonds of lying about knowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs and another perjury charge alleging he lied about being injected by anyone but his doctors. Each count could carry a 10-year prison sentence upon conviction. Defense lawyer Allen Ruby, in his opening statement, told jurors that Bonds acknowledged to the grand jury that he used the substances known as "the clear and the cream," but at the time of his testimony even investigators didn't know what was in them. Bonds told the grand jury he thought Anderson was giving him flaxseed oil, Ruby said. Nedrow, in his closing, said it was "implausible" that Bonds would take drugs "and really not know what they were." A urine sample given by Bonds in the summer of 2003, just months before his grand jury testimony, tested positive for anabolic steroids, he said. During court testimony last month, Bonds' childhood friend Steve Hoskins, who worked for a decade as his assistant, said he tried to persuade Bonds to stop using anabolic steroids in 2000 and 2003. Hoskins, a key prosecution witness, was questioned by Bonds' defense lawyer, who suggested his cooperation with the government was motivated by bitterness about Bonds firing him and by a desire for protection from prosecution for allegedly stealing money from Bonds. Prosecutors played an audio recording that Hoskins secretly made in the Giants locker room of a conversation with Anderson about the hazards of steroid usage. Bonds' defense attorney suggested that Hoskins made the recording only after Bonds dismissed him in March 2003. Hoskins acknowledged that he leaked the details of the recording to investigative reporter Lance Williams, who included it in his book about the scandal, "Game of Shadows." Hoskins' first conversation with Bonds about performance-enhancing drugs was in 1999, when Bonds asked him to "find out what this steroid does and what the side effects are and was it good or bad," Hoskins testified. While he never witnessed Bonds being injected with anabolic steroids, Hoskins said he saw Bonds and Anderson emerge from a bedroom with a syringe during spring training in 2000. Bonds complained to him that year that steroid injections "were making his butt sore," Hoskins said. The subject of steroids came up again in 2002 during a conversation among Bonds, Anderson and Hoskins near the batting cage at the ballpark, Hoskins said. Bonds was upset because Anderson refused to give him an injection, he said. Under cross-examination, Hoskins acknowledged that he secretly recorded the conversation after a meeting with Bonds in which the ballplayer severed their business relationship. Hoskins testified that his break with Bonds happened because Bonds wanted him to spend more time with him at the ballpark, but he had to help his wife with a new daughter. "Barry told me at that time I had to choose between him and my wife," Hoskins testified. One of Hoskins' jobs as Bonds' assistant was to give cash, sometimes in $5,000 installments, to two of the married baseball player's girlfriends, he testified. It also was his job to help Bonds juggle his time with those girlfriends and his wife during spring training in Arizona, he said. In his 21-year major league career, Bonds also set the record for most home runs in a single season in 2001, when he hit 73. He did not officially retire after he was indicted, but he never played another game.
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