Barry Bonds case remains in limbo

By Howard Mintz / San Jose Mercury News
Saturday, August 27, 2011 - Added 7 hours ago

AN FRANCISCO - A federal judge is not ready to make a call on home run king Barry Bonds’ quest to wipe out his obstruction of justice conviction.

After a brief hearing here Thursday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston told attorneys in the long-running perjury case that she would issue a written ruling at some unspecified point on whether to leave intact Bonds’ conviction for providing evasive testimony to a federal grand jury in December 2003.

As a result, the Bonds case remains in limbo, more than eight years after the former San Francisco Giants superstar appeared before the grand jury probing the BALCO steroids scandal and wound up accused of lying under oath about using performance enhancing drugs.

A jury in April convicted Bonds of obstructing justice for an exchange in the grand jury during which he gave a rambling answer to a question about whether Greg Anderson, his former personal trainer, ever supplied him with any substances that required the use of a syringe. The jury deadlocked on three other perjury counts against Bonds related to allegations he lied about using steroids as he chased baseball’s home run records.

Bonds’ lawyers argue that flawed jury instructions allowed the jury to convict Bonds of a felony for providing a "rambling answer" to questions in the grand jury, and that the obstruction conviction should be set aside.

Illston gave few hints how she would rule on the issue, but at one point appeared to question the thrust of Bonds’ attorney Dennis Riordan’s argument, suggesting she must examine all of the evidence in evaluating whether the jury understood the charge against Bonds. "I don’t think it’s fair to say you look at just the one statement," the judge said.

Allen Ruby, Bonds’ lead attorney, declined to comment outside court.

Federal prosecutors argue there was ample evidence that Bonds tried to mislead the grand jury about using steroids, and that jurors were justified in convicting him on the obstruction charge for his statements about the syringe.

The U.S. attorney’s office has yet to reveal whether it plans to retry the three perjury counts, but appears to be awaiting Illston’s decision on whether to uphold the obstruction conviction.

If the judge leaves the conviction intact, she would then set a sentencing date for Bonds.