Judge Takes A Bat To Feds' Case Against Bonds
Bonds' lawyers hit a home run in court
By JOE KUKURA
Updated 11:00 AM PST, Fri, Feb 6, 2009
It's putting it kindly to say that Barry Bonds wasn't known for his defense. But in pre-trial motions in Barry's perjury case, his defense lawyers are getting Hall of Fame results.
Presiding Judge Susan Illston gave Bonds' defense a huge victory yesterday by saying in open court she may have to throw out several of Bonds' positive drug tests from the evidence pool.
Her decision could come next week.
She may decide to leave the doping calendars as admissible evidence, but these aren't likely to be useful for the prosecution without a witness who was specifically present when the calendars were created to verify the meaning of the calendar entries.
The only witness fitting that bill is they guy who created them, trainer Greg Anderson.
Anderson will probably be subpoenaed, and he'll have to show up in court. But he can just sit there and refuse to answer questions, and he's already served a year in jail for refusing to give testimony. There's no reason to believe he wouldn't be down with doing so again, thereby neutralizing another key piece of evidence.
Now, let's talk specific years-old jars of urine. Judge Illston ruled out all of Bonds' positive tests, with the exception of a 2003 test administered by MLB. But that test has credibility issues too-- xxxxxxx.
This all raises a serious likelihood that after six years and countless millions spent prosecuting Barry Bonds, the government fail to convict Bonds on a single count of anything. And Bonds will be handed the biggest win of his career.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer is also not really known for his defense.
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: Feb 6, 2009 10:48 AM PST
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