Barry bonds conviction, After years of investigations and court proceedings in the performance-enhancing drug case involving Barry Bonds, baseball’s home run king, federal prosecutors were able to pin only one obstruction of justice conviction on him.
Now, that is gone.
On Wednesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco reversed the conviction from 2011, stemming from an answer that Bonds gave to a grand jury in 2003. An 11-judge panel of the appeals court, in a 10-1 ruling, said it was not material to the government’s investigation into a drug-distribution ring.
Bonds hit a record 762 home runs in his 22 years in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Francisco Giants that ended in 2007, shortly after he passed Hank Aaron for the career mark. In 2001, Bonds established the single-season record for home runs, with 73.
But Bonds, while earning a salary as high as $22 million from the Giants and aiding the team’s surge in popularity a decade ago, was never beloved, especially outside the Bay Area. His involvement in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal put him at the center of baseball’s doping debate, which also snared the likes of Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez.
Suspicions over Bonds’s use of performance-enhancing drugs linger years after his career ended. In January, in his third year of eligibility, he was named on just 36.8 percent of the ballots for the Baseball Hall of Fame, far short of the 75 percent required for induction.
Bonds never failed a performance-enhancing drug test administered by Major League Baseball; testing for steroids began in 2003. He has never admitted to knowingly taking banned drugs, although news media reports and books, particularly “Game of Shadows” in 2006, made strong cases that he had used performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds was found guilty mostly in the court of public opinion. He was exonerated of perjury charges he faced from his 2003 grand-jury testimony, with the obstruction of justice conviction the lone legal ramification.
Wednesday’s announcement from the appeals panel erased that, meaning all efforts to legally link Bonds to baseball’s doping saga have come up empty.
“During a grand jury proceeding, defendant gave a rambling, nonresponsive answer to a simple question,” the opinion stated. “Because there is insufficient evidence that Statement C was material, defendant’s conviction for obstruction of justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1503 is not supported by the record. Whatever section 1503’s scope may be in other circumstances, defendant’s conviction here must be reversed.”
The opinion also said that Bonds, 50, may not be tried again on the same count.
Pending possible reconsideration of the ruling at the request of government officials, Bonds is left to see what the decision does for the rehabilitation of his checkered reputation.
“He said an enormous, enormous weight had been lifted from his body and soul,” Bonds’s appellate lawyer, Dennis Riordan, told The Associated Press.
Bonds has mostly stayed out of the public eye since his retirement, although he has increasingly appeared at AT&T Park, the home of the Giants. There a sign on the outfield wall marks where he hit his 756th home run, which lifted him over Aaron, on Aug. 7, 2007.
Bonds worked with the team as a hitting instructor in spring training and threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a postseason game last season, when the Giants won their third World Series in five years.
On Wednesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco reversed the conviction from 2011, stemming from an answer that Bonds gave to a grand jury in 2003. An 11-judge panel of the appeals court, in a 10-1 ruling, said it was not material to the government’s investigation into a drug-distribution ring.
Bonds hit a record 762 home runs in his 22 years in the major leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Francisco Giants that ended in 2007, shortly after he passed Hank Aaron for the career mark. In 2001, Bonds established the single-season record for home runs, with 73.
But Bonds, while earning a salary as high as $22 million from the Giants and aiding the team’s surge in popularity a decade ago, was never beloved, especially outside the Bay Area. His involvement in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal put him at the center of baseball’s doping debate, which also snared the likes of Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez.
Suspicions over Bonds’s use of performance-enhancing drugs linger years after his career ended. In January, in his third year of eligibility, he was named on just 36.8 percent of the ballots for the Baseball Hall of Fame, far short of the 75 percent required for induction.
Bonds never failed a performance-enhancing drug test administered by Major League Baseball; testing for steroids began in 2003. He has never admitted to knowingly taking banned drugs, although news media reports and books, particularly “Game of Shadows” in 2006, made strong cases that he had used performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds was found guilty mostly in the court of public opinion. He was exonerated of perjury charges he faced from his 2003 grand-jury testimony, with the obstruction of justice conviction the lone legal ramification.
Wednesday’s announcement from the appeals panel erased that, meaning all efforts to legally link Bonds to baseball’s doping saga have come up empty.
“During a grand jury proceeding, defendant gave a rambling, nonresponsive answer to a simple question,” the opinion stated. “Because there is insufficient evidence that Statement C was material, defendant’s conviction for obstruction of justice in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1503 is not supported by the record. Whatever section 1503’s scope may be in other circumstances, defendant’s conviction here must be reversed.”
The opinion also said that Bonds, 50, may not be tried again on the same count.
Pending possible reconsideration of the ruling at the request of government officials, Bonds is left to see what the decision does for the rehabilitation of his checkered reputation.
“He said an enormous, enormous weight had been lifted from his body and soul,” Bonds’s appellate lawyer, Dennis Riordan, told The Associated Press.
Bonds has mostly stayed out of the public eye since his retirement, although he has increasingly appeared at AT&T Park, the home of the Giants. There a sign on the outfield wall marks where he hit his 756th home run, which lifted him over Aaron, on Aug. 7, 2007.
Bonds worked with the team as a hitting instructor in spring training and threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a postseason game last season, when the Giants won their third World Series in five years.
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