Steve Hoskins took the stand on Wednesday and, as expected, did some damage to Barry Bonds' case.
Hoskins, a childhood friend as well as former business partner of Bonds', testified that he had conversations about Bonds about steroids, back in 1999.
"He said 'find out what this steroid does and what the side effects are and is it good or bad,'" Hoskins said.
However, Hoskins couldn't testify that he ever saw Bonds actually do steroids. (This is, um, kind of an important point.) He did, though, do some more damage to the defense's case.
Hoskins testified that during several consecutive years of spring training, he saw trainer Greg Anderson (currently in jail for refusing to testify) and Bonds come in and out of a bedroom, with Anderson holding a syringe.
Hoskins also provided the prosecution with a copy of a recorded conversation that allegedly took place between Bonds and Anderson, in which they allegedly discuss steroids. The recording, played for the jury, required a transcript because of the quality and muffled voices on the tape.
The recording also featured the potentially damaging phrase, "everything that I've been doing at this point, it's all undetectable."
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But, again, Hoskins never actually saw Bonds doing steroids.
And Hoskins, as the prosecution will repeat ad nauseum, had a falling out with Bonds when they were business partners. And that when Bonds went to the cops to complain that Hoskins was forging his signature, Hoskins just so happened to become a willing participant in the U.S. Attorney's case.
Oh, and that his answers during this week's portion of the trial were different than the answers he gave to the grand jury a few years ago.
That's not to say that Hoskins, as a close confidant to Bonds, is absolutely incorrect about Bonds doing steroids.
But the fact that he has a grudge worth holding, and the fact that he never actually saw Bonds do steroids is going to make it fairly difficult for the prosecution to convince the jury that there's legitimate, indisputable proof that Bonds took steroids.
