Bonds Found Guilty of Obstruction of Justice

Home-run champion Barry Bonds was convicted by a federal jury in San Francisco Wednesday of one count of obstructing justice by giving evasive testimony in 2003 to a grand jury investigating steroids. 

But the jury failed to reach a verdict on three other counts that charged Bonds with lying about whether he ever knowingly took steroids or human growth hormone or was ever injected by his trainer.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston declared a mistrial on those three counts. U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said prosecutors will decide "as soon as possible" whether to seek a retrial on the three charges.

 Illston scheduled a status conference on May 20 to set a sentencing date for the former San Francisco Giants outfielder.

Bonds, 46, set Major League Baseball's single-season home-run record of 73 while playing for the Giants in 2001 and hit the all-time record of 762 in his last season in 2007.

The conviction carries a theoretical maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. But two other sports figures who were convicted of lying in the steroids probe were sentenced by Illston to home confinement.

The partial verdict came on the fourth day of jury deliberations following a three-week trial.

 Haag said, "We are gratified by the guilty verdict" on the obstruction charge. "This case is about upholding one of the most fundamental principles in our system of justice - the obligation of every witness to provide truthful and direct testimony in judicial proceedings," Haag said.

Bonds' attorneys said they will challenge the obstruction conviction in post-trial proceedings before Illston and on appeal if necessary. Lead defense attorney Allen Ruby emphasized, in comments to reporters, that Bonds was not convicted of lying about his alleged drug use.

"There was no conviction on anything having to do with steroids, human growth hormone or performance-enhancing drugs," Ruby said. "That's where we are eight years later," the attorney said, referring to Bonds' grand jury testimony of Dec. 4, 2003.

The panel was investigating the distribution of performance-enhancing drugs by the Burlingame-based Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO.

Bonds is one of 11 people who were eventually indicted on charges of illegally distributing drugs or lying in connection with the probe. The others all pleaded guilty or were convicted of various charges.

-Bay City News