The US v. Barry Bonds: Government Case Now Based On Alleged "Shriveling" Of Bond's Testicles!

[Better Believe It]

The US v. Barry Bonds
By Dave Zirin
The Nation
February 24, 2009

This is a story about garbage. There's the actual garbage overzealous federal investigators examined in their efforts to prosecute a surly sports celebrity. There's the shredding of the Bill of Rights, crudely ignored by the government in the name of obsession and ambition. Finally, there's the thorough trashing of people's reputations, not to mention the game of baseball. Welcome to The US v. Barry Bonds; please disregard the stench.

The case to prove that slugger Barry Bonds perjured himself in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) steroid investigation begins March 2. Yet after seven years of investigation, millions of dollars in work hours and countless ruined reputations, the US Attorney's Office will arrive in court with virtually no leg to stand on. Judge Susan Illston struck down most of the prosecution's case, a move ESPN legal expert Lester Munson called a "devastating" setback for prosecutors. The ruling was an indictment of not only the government's case but its entire approach toward Bonds from day one. John Ashcroft's Justice Department always seemed irrationally determined to prosecute Bonds. It was as obsessive as the fisherman Santiago attempting to bring home the great marlin in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.

The embodiment of this obsession was IRS agent Jeff Novitzky. He broke open the BALCO case after spending a great deal of time, to the adulation of the press, literally sifting through garbage and sewage. Novitzky was given the green light by President Bush and Ashcroft to go for the jugular. In 2004, accompanied by eleven agents, he marched into Comprehensive Drug Testing, the nation's largest sports-drug testing company. Armed with a warrant to see the confidential drug tests of ten baseball players, he walked out with 4,000 supposedly sealed medical files, including every baseball player in the major leagues. As Jon Pessah wrote in ESPN magazine, "Three federal judges reviewed the raid. One asked, incredulously, if the Fourth Amendment had been repealed. Another, Susan Illston, who has presided over the BALCO trials, called Novitzky's actions a 'callous disregard' for constitutional rights. All three instructed him to return the records. Instead, Novitzky kept the evidence...."

It was a frightening abuse of power, all aimed at imprisoning a prominent African-American athlete. Yet despite the landfills of trash, the government's case always rested on a flimsy premise. Bonds's contention under oath was that anything illegal he may have ingested was without prior knowledge. The only person who could contradict Bonds was his trainer and longtime friend Greg Anderson. The government pressed Anderson to give testimony. He refused, citing a promise made by the feds that he wouldn't have to testify after pleading guilty to steroid distribution and money laundering in 2005. The feds stuck him in jail for thirteen months to soften him up, but he didn't crack.

Anderson has remained firm even though in January, twenty FBI and IRS agents raided the home of his mother-in-law and threatened to punish her for tax evasion if Anderson didn't spill. Similar threats have been made against his wife. Mark Geragos, Anderson's attorney, told Yahoo Sports, "It's such a blatant and transparent attempt to intimidate Greg. They're acting like the Gestapo. Even the mafia spares the women and children." Without Anderson, the state's case was always weak. But now it is on serious life support. Illston ruled most of Novitzky and the government's case inadmissible, for good reason.

If the US Attorney's Office does continue the case, it has made clear its next line of offense: it will have Bonds's former mistress, Kimberly Bell, testify in detail about the alleged "shriveling" of Bonds's testicles. Jeff Novitzky should be proud.

It's way past time to say enough is enough.

Please read the complete carticle at:

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090309/zirin?rel=hp_currently

[avaistheone1]

1. Bonds' balls are his business.

So to speak. :spray: I wish the feds would stop wasting money on this. There are really more important crimes out there.

[Better Believe It]

2. Using Steroids WAS NOT banned by major league baseball until 2005!

[Occam Bandage]

5. But was illegal. So is perjury. nt

[Romulox]

8. Bizarre argument. It was against Federal and State law. MLB doesn't set that. nt

[FSogol]

3. I thought that ball was marked with an asterisk?

:crazy:

[Redbear]

4. Actually, the case is based upon

1. The testimony of three witnesses who each say that Bonds admitted to them that he was using steroids.
2. The testimony of another witness that she saw Greg Anderson (Bonds personal trainer) injecting Bonds.
3. The fact that Anderson pled guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to distribute steroids.
4. An 2003 MLB obtained drug-test sample that was found clean in the MLB testing done at that time but which recent testing confirms contains the steroid created by BALCO (termed the "clear") that was undetectable by standard 2003-vintage drug testing.

[Better Believe It]

6. Government witch-hunt links please!

[Redbear]

7. Here is the Chronicle's rundown

on the evidence the judge excluded and the evidence the govt. still has.

[dysfunctional press]

9. where?

did you mean to post a link with that...:shrug:

[madinmaryland]

10. You want to add that linky??

Thx!

[Redbear]

14. Sorry about that - here's the link

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/20/MN8M161I4R.DTL&hw=bonds&sn=005&sc=522


In filings last week, prosecutors said former Giants catcher Bobby Estalella, former Bonds business manager Steve Hoskins and former girlfriend Kim Bell all would testify that Bonds had admitted his steroid use to them. Hoskins' sister Kathy, who was Bonds' personal assistant, will tell the jury that she saw Anderson injecting Bonds, the government said.

Prosecutors said they would present evidence of a urine sample collected from Bonds in 2003 for a Major League Baseball drug test. Bonds was found to be free of steroids on that test. But on a retest, government scientists founds he had been using the BALCO undetectable steroid "the clear," along with a female fertility drug, Clomid.

[MiniMe]

11. I really don't want to see the evidence

It is outrageous. Hopefully, this stuff will stop now.

[Obamanaut]

12. People like to see home runs. Players on performance enhancing

drugs hit more home runs. Give such drugs to all players, then they are all equal again.

I think there are enough major issues on the plate that we can worry about, other than what sports figure is taking what pharmaceutical.

[gratuitous]

15. Hell, just move the fences in

More bleacher room for more fans to cheer for "their" team. A pop fly gets out of the yard, everyone cheers, and nobody leaves a 25-13 nail-biter. Whoo hoo!

[Obamanaut]

17. That makes more sense than my "drugs for everyone" plan. nt

[Nye Bevan]

13. It's pretty simple- don't lie to the Feds

whether you are Barry Bonds, Miguel Tejada, or Martha Stewart. Regardless of your race, it is a very bad idea to lie to the Feds.

[Redbear]

16. And Marion Jones as well.

If I recall, she was charged with lying to the same grand jury that Bonds is accused of lying to.

[cboy4]

18. And how much taxpayer money has been wasted going

after a single baseball player?

Millions and millions?

Perhaps the prosecutors didn't listen to Obama's excellent speech the other night....you know, the parts when he talked about all of our problems and how much cash it's going to take to right the ship?

This is a disgusting abuse of power.