Barry Bonds indicted by GJ
- Thread starter layinwood
- Start date
Sweet. Glad to see it. I wonder if he will be permitted to bring in his lounge chair to court for the proceedings?
it will be interesting to see what evidence they have uncovered that they have not found in four years
Federal Grand Jury Indicts Barry Bonds
By PAUL ELIAS | Associated Press Writer
5:13 PM CST, November 15, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO
Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday for perjury and obstruction of justice, charged with lying when he told a federal grand jury that he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.
If convicted on all five counts, baseball's home run king could go to prison for up to 30 years.
"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment read.
In August, the 43-year-old Bonds passed Hank Aaron to become baseball's career home run leader. Late in the season, the San Francisco Giants told the seven-time National League MVP they didn't want him back next year.
Bonds finished the year with 762 homers, seven more than Aaron, and is currently a free agent. In 2001, he set the season record with 73 home runs.
The indictment culminated a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes.
John Burris, one of Bonds' attorneys, did not know of the indictment before being alerted by The Associated Press. He said he would immediately call Bonds to notify him.
"I'm surprised," Burris said, "but there's been an effort to get Barry for a long time. I'm curious what evidence they have now they didn't have before."
Bonds has repeatedly denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. He has never been identified by Major League Baseball as testing positive.
The White House quickly weighed in on the indictment. President Bush is a former owner of the Texas Rangers.
"The president is very disappointed to hear this," Bush spokesman Tony Fratto said. "As this case is now in the criminal justice system, we will refrain from any further specific comments about it. But clearly this is a sad day for baseball."
Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who is investigating drug use in baseball, declined comment.
The Hall of Fame currently has an exhibit dedicated to Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run.
"As a historic museum, we have no intention of taking the exhibit down," Hall vice president Jeff Idelson said.
Bonds was charged with four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. He was cited for lying when he said he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by his personal trainer and longtime friend, Greg Anderson. Bonds also was charged with lying that Anderson never injected him with steroids.
"Greg wouldn't do that," Bonds testified in December 2003 when asked if Anderson ever gave him any drugs that needed to be injected. "He knows I'm against that stuff."
Bonds became the highest-profile figure caught up in the government investigation launched in 2002 with the raid of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), the Burlingame-based supplements lab at the center of a steroids distribution ring.
Bonds has long been shadowed by allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. The son of former big league star Bobby Bonds, Barry broke into the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 as a lithe, base-stealing outfielder.
By the late 1990s, he'd bulked up to more than 240 pounds -- his head, in particular, becoming noticeably bigger. His physical growth was accompanied by a remarkable power surge.
Speculation of his impending indictment had mounted for more than a year.
In July 2006, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco took the unusual step of going public with the investigation. After the previous panel's 18-month term expired, he announced he was handing it off to a new grand jury.
Anderson was at the center of the investigation. He spent most of the past year in a federal detention center for refusing to testify to the grand jury.
According to testimony obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, Bonds testified in 2003 that he took two substances given to him by Anderson -- which he called "the cream" and "the clear" -- to soothe aches and pains and help him better recover from injuries.
The substances fit the description of steroids distributed by BALCO founder Victor Conte. But when questioned under oath by investigators, Bonds said he believed Anderson had given him flaxseed oil and an arthritic balm.
Investigators and the public had their doubts.
Aiming to prove Bonds a liar, prosecutors tried to compel Anderson to testify. When he refused, they jailed him for contempt.
Bonds joins several defendants tied to BALCO. Anderson served three months in prison and three months of home detention after pleading guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering.
Conte also served three months in prison after he pleaded guilty to steroids distribution.
Patrick Arnold, the rogue chemist who created the designer steroid THG, BALCO vice president James Valente and track coach Remi Korchemny all also pleaded guilty. Korchemny and Valente were sentenced to probation and Arnold sent to prison for four months.
Kirk Radomski, a former New York Mets clubhouse attendant, pleaded guilty April 27 to drug and money laundering charges.
Elite cyclist Tammy Thomas and track coach Trevor Graham have each pleaded not guilty to lying to a grand jury and federal investigators about their involvement with steroids.
Dozens of other prominent athletes have been connected to BALCO, including New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi who told the grand jury he injected steroids purchased at BALCO and Detroit Tigers outfielder Gary Sheffield who testified that Bonds introduced him to BALCO.
By PAUL ELIAS | Associated Press Writer
5:13 PM CST, November 15, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO
Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday for perjury and obstruction of justice, charged with lying when he told a federal grand jury that he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.
If convicted on all five counts, baseball's home run king could go to prison for up to 30 years.
"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment read.
In August, the 43-year-old Bonds passed Hank Aaron to become baseball's career home run leader. Late in the season, the San Francisco Giants told the seven-time National League MVP they didn't want him back next year.
Bonds finished the year with 762 homers, seven more than Aaron, and is currently a free agent. In 2001, he set the season record with 73 home runs.
The indictment culminated a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes.
John Burris, one of Bonds' attorneys, did not know of the indictment before being alerted by The Associated Press. He said he would immediately call Bonds to notify him.
"I'm surprised," Burris said, "but there's been an effort to get Barry for a long time. I'm curious what evidence they have now they didn't have before."
Bonds has repeatedly denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. He has never been identified by Major League Baseball as testing positive.
The White House quickly weighed in on the indictment. President Bush is a former owner of the Texas Rangers.
"The president is very disappointed to hear this," Bush spokesman Tony Fratto said. "As this case is now in the criminal justice system, we will refrain from any further specific comments about it. But clearly this is a sad day for baseball."
Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who is investigating drug use in baseball, declined comment.
The Hall of Fame currently has an exhibit dedicated to Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run.
"As a historic museum, we have no intention of taking the exhibit down," Hall vice president Jeff Idelson said.
Bonds was charged with four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. He was cited for lying when he said he didn't knowingly take steroids given to him by his personal trainer and longtime friend, Greg Anderson. Bonds also was charged with lying that Anderson never injected him with steroids.
"Greg wouldn't do that," Bonds testified in December 2003 when asked if Anderson ever gave him any drugs that needed to be injected. "He knows I'm against that stuff."
Bonds became the highest-profile figure caught up in the government investigation launched in 2002 with the raid of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), the Burlingame-based supplements lab at the center of a steroids distribution ring.
Bonds has long been shadowed by allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs. The son of former big league star Bobby Bonds, Barry broke into the majors with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 as a lithe, base-stealing outfielder.
By the late 1990s, he'd bulked up to more than 240 pounds -- his head, in particular, becoming noticeably bigger. His physical growth was accompanied by a remarkable power surge.
Speculation of his impending indictment had mounted for more than a year.
In July 2006, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco took the unusual step of going public with the investigation. After the previous panel's 18-month term expired, he announced he was handing it off to a new grand jury.
Anderson was at the center of the investigation. He spent most of the past year in a federal detention center for refusing to testify to the grand jury.
According to testimony obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, Bonds testified in 2003 that he took two substances given to him by Anderson -- which he called "the cream" and "the clear" -- to soothe aches and pains and help him better recover from injuries.
The substances fit the description of steroids distributed by BALCO founder Victor Conte. But when questioned under oath by investigators, Bonds said he believed Anderson had given him flaxseed oil and an arthritic balm.
Investigators and the public had their doubts.
Aiming to prove Bonds a liar, prosecutors tried to compel Anderson to testify. When he refused, they jailed him for contempt.
Bonds joins several defendants tied to BALCO. Anderson served three months in prison and three months of home detention after pleading guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering.
Conte also served three months in prison after he pleaded guilty to steroids distribution.
Patrick Arnold, the rogue chemist who created the designer steroid THG, BALCO vice president James Valente and track coach Remi Korchemny all also pleaded guilty. Korchemny and Valente were sentenced to probation and Arnold sent to prison for four months.
Kirk Radomski, a former New York Mets clubhouse attendant, pleaded guilty April 27 to drug and money laundering charges.
Elite cyclist Tammy Thomas and track coach Trevor Graham have each pleaded not guilty to lying to a grand jury and federal investigators about their involvement with steroids.
Dozens of other prominent athletes have been connected to BALCO, including New York Yankees slugger Jason Giambi who told the grand jury he injected steroids purchased at BALCO and Detroit Tigers outfielder Gary Sheffield who testified that Bonds introduced him to BALCO.
There is a reason the feds have a 95% conviction rate and it aint because they are swift with their investigations. Bonds = Fvcked!!!
...............................................................
So you think anyone can put me Barry in prison ? I doubt it. I got more money that God.
I am the Home run King. I am untouchable.
Prison..........hahahahahahahaha.
I will have the best lawyers money can buy. I will
never serve a day in no white mans prison.
Forget about it.
You people make me laugh.
Bonds could have avoided this whole thing by not
lying about taking steroids. But his ego would not allow him to do that, because all the sweat and blood he poured out would be for not if he was
not the Home Run King.
In his mind, if he just denied denied denied, no one would ever prove he took anything.
Thats why he was so upset over the asterick on the ball. Nothing can taint his record of achievements. Not Barry's records.
The feds do not like perjury. Maybe Barry should ask Martha Stewart about lying to the feds.
Barry deserves what he gets.
No baseball team is going to sign him now either.
More ego draining for Barry.
His arrogance is what brought him down.
lying about taking steroids. But his ego would not allow him to do that, because all the sweat and blood he poured out would be for not if he was
not the Home Run King.
In his mind, if he just denied denied denied, no one would ever prove he took anything.
Thats why he was so upset over the asterick on the ball. Nothing can taint his record of achievements. Not Barry's records.
The feds do not like perjury. Maybe Barry should ask Martha Stewart about lying to the feds.
Barry deserves what he gets.
No baseball team is going to sign him now either.
More ego draining for Barry.
His arrogance is what brought him down.
Great news, I'm sick of this scum bag. He should have admitted using steroids a long time ago.
kneifl
kneifl
Bonds indictment too late for baseball
By Mark Bradley | Thursday, November 15, 2007, 09:25 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley Too late, baseball has its asterisk. Nearly four years after he testified before one grand jury, another grand jury has decided Barry Bonds lied. And somewhere Bud Selig is moaning, ?Why couldn?t this have happened a year ago??
Baseball kept waiting for this, waiting and praying an indictment would arrive before Bonds hit Nos. 755 and 756. That would have spared Selig from having to dither about how, or even if, to ?celebrate? a record he obviously regarded as bogus. But baseball never gets lucky. As the baseball man Branch Rickey said, ?Luck is the residue of design,? and Selig and his craven cronies lack all forethought. Baseball tried to have an outside body do its dirty work, and the trouble with independent contractors is that they hew to their schedule, not yours.
And now, the indictment finally on the books, the legal stuff is almost beside the point. The greater question: What will baseball do? Will it suspend Bonds? (Kind of an empty gesture, given that he?s between teams.) Will it excise his records? (All of them, or just those established after his head so conspicuously expanded?) Will it wait until the trial, assuming there is one, or will it be so desperate to distance itself from Bonds that it?s impelled to do something, anything?
From Page 3 of the indictment: ?During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for Bonds.? If that?s so, why could baseball never uncover or gain access to such evidence? Why was Bonds allowed to keep hitting his home runs? Did baseball simply not know, or did it not want to know?
This much, and this much only, is clear: Bonds has hit his last home run. He?s 43, and he just played himself out of the one city that didn?t despise him. Even if baseball doesn?t suspend him, what team would want his baggage-laden services? (The general idea is to attract fans, not repel them.)
Bonds has always acted as if he wants nobody to like him, and almost nobody does. He became the home-run king only to find he had no subjects. He didn?t have to bulk up artificially to become a great player ? he was great already. But Bonds, driven by disdain, grew too big both figuratively and literally.
Those willing to suspend their disbelief when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa staged their match race never afforded Bonds the benefit of a single doubt. We all wanted to believe in McGwire and Sosa because they seemed like such nice guys, but the sneering Bonds didn?t pluck a single heartstring. He was always the Bad Guy, and now the Bad Guy is under federal indictment.
This all might seem tragic if it weren?t so utterly apt. Baseball and Bonds deserve one another. The sport that saw a strike wipe out a World Series is the realm of obscene greed. Everybody wants more ? owners and players and agents and union chiefs and network executives. Nobody worries about the good of the game, the consequence being that there?s little good left.
Baseball didn?t care about steroids in the McGwire/Sosa summer of 1998 because attendance and ratings were soaring and everybody was getting ever richer. Baseball didn?t care until the sport and its precious numbers became distorted beyond the point of recognition, and by then it was too late. Bonds was bearing down on Hank Aaron and his sport lacked the guts to halt him. He got his record. He?ll probably have to give it back.
Last month the similarly disgraced Marion Jones returned the five medals she won at the 2000 Olympics. At least she got to keep her tainted bounty for seven years. Barry Bonds was indicted exactly 100 days after No. 756 cleared the fence at Pac Bell Park. For his blundering sport, it was 100 days too late.
.............................................................
By Mark Bradley | Thursday, November 15, 2007, 09:25 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley Too late, baseball has its asterisk. Nearly four years after he testified before one grand jury, another grand jury has decided Barry Bonds lied. And somewhere Bud Selig is moaning, ?Why couldn?t this have happened a year ago??
Baseball kept waiting for this, waiting and praying an indictment would arrive before Bonds hit Nos. 755 and 756. That would have spared Selig from having to dither about how, or even if, to ?celebrate? a record he obviously regarded as bogus. But baseball never gets lucky. As the baseball man Branch Rickey said, ?Luck is the residue of design,? and Selig and his craven cronies lack all forethought. Baseball tried to have an outside body do its dirty work, and the trouble with independent contractors is that they hew to their schedule, not yours.
And now, the indictment finally on the books, the legal stuff is almost beside the point. The greater question: What will baseball do? Will it suspend Bonds? (Kind of an empty gesture, given that he?s between teams.) Will it excise his records? (All of them, or just those established after his head so conspicuously expanded?) Will it wait until the trial, assuming there is one, or will it be so desperate to distance itself from Bonds that it?s impelled to do something, anything?
From Page 3 of the indictment: ?During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for Bonds.? If that?s so, why could baseball never uncover or gain access to such evidence? Why was Bonds allowed to keep hitting his home runs? Did baseball simply not know, or did it not want to know?
This much, and this much only, is clear: Bonds has hit his last home run. He?s 43, and he just played himself out of the one city that didn?t despise him. Even if baseball doesn?t suspend him, what team would want his baggage-laden services? (The general idea is to attract fans, not repel them.)
Bonds has always acted as if he wants nobody to like him, and almost nobody does. He became the home-run king only to find he had no subjects. He didn?t have to bulk up artificially to become a great player ? he was great already. But Bonds, driven by disdain, grew too big both figuratively and literally.
Those willing to suspend their disbelief when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa staged their match race never afforded Bonds the benefit of a single doubt. We all wanted to believe in McGwire and Sosa because they seemed like such nice guys, but the sneering Bonds didn?t pluck a single heartstring. He was always the Bad Guy, and now the Bad Guy is under federal indictment.
This all might seem tragic if it weren?t so utterly apt. Baseball and Bonds deserve one another. The sport that saw a strike wipe out a World Series is the realm of obscene greed. Everybody wants more ? owners and players and agents and union chiefs and network executives. Nobody worries about the good of the game, the consequence being that there?s little good left.
Baseball didn?t care about steroids in the McGwire/Sosa summer of 1998 because attendance and ratings were soaring and everybody was getting ever richer. Baseball didn?t care until the sport and its precious numbers became distorted beyond the point of recognition, and by then it was too late. Bonds was bearing down on Hank Aaron and his sport lacked the guts to halt him. He got his record. He?ll probably have to give it back.
Last month the similarly disgraced Marion Jones returned the five medals she won at the 2000 Olympics. At least she got to keep her tainted bounty for seven years. Barry Bonds was indicted exactly 100 days after No. 756 cleared the fence at Pac Bell Park. For his blundering sport, it was 100 days too late.
.............................................................
I hope the 100 other players who were on steroids 5 years ago, don't lie on the stand.
..Because as long as you only lie to the press, fans, other teammates, and yourself then you have great character and are a good role model. Being completely selfish and criminal (taking drugs) is not a problem as long as you don't lie in court.
Bonds was the only person in baseball who has done anything wrong, and now the problem will just go away.
Whew, baseball dodged a bullet.
..Because as long as you only lie to the press, fans, other teammates, and yourself then you have great character and are a good role model. Being completely selfish and criminal (taking drugs) is not a problem as long as you don't lie in court.
Bonds was the only person in baseball who has done anything wrong, and now the problem will just go away.
Whew, baseball dodged a bullet.
