Bonds found guilty of obstruction of justiceMistrial declared on three remaining perjury chargesBy John Schlegel / MLB.com | 04/13/11 5:43 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- The jury deciding the federal perjury case against Barry Bonds found him guilty of obstruction of justice on Wednesday, but it could not come to a conclusion on the three counts of making false declarations regarding his 2003 testimony before the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) grand jury.
With that, Judge Susan Illston excused the jurors, and then declared a mistrial on the three charges that the jury couldn't decide upon. A sentencing date of May 20 was set by Illston.
Defense counsel moved for a directed verdict to dismiss the remaining charge or a new trial. The two sides will set a date to discuss that with Illston.
The eight women and four men who were impaneled March 22 in Illston's courtroom listened to 11 days of testimony and arguments before taking three days and four hours to come in with their split verdict on Bonds, the Major Leagues' all-time leader in home runs and a seven-time Most Valuable Player.
The outcome was made even more dramatic by a misunderstanding between the jury and the court. The jury informed the court early Wednesday afternoon that it had reached a verdict, but when court was called back in session there was confusion about what exactly they had concluded.
Illston called the two legal sides together to determine how to approach the situation. Defense attorney Allen Ruby and lead prosecutor Matthew Parrella agreed to send a note to the jury via Illston to determine exactly what the status of their deliberations was. Illston decided instead to bring the jury in the courtroom.
The confusion began when a juror informed the court clerk that they had reached a verdict, but when she asked them to return their notes -- they cannot keep them after the trial -- they said they still had issues to discuss, sending the conclusion of the trial into limbo.
Bonds originally was indicted on four charges of giving false testimony and one charge of obstruction of justice on Nov. 15, 2006. He pleaded not guilty on Dec. 7, 2006. A second indictment added 10 charges, but the third superseding indictment on Feb. 10 of this year was pared back down to four charges of making false declarations and one of obstruction of justice. One of the charges of making false statements was dropped prior to closing arguments during the trial.
The trial took place in the U.S. District Court, Northern California District, in Courtroom 10 of the Phillip Burton Federal Building.
On Monday, the jury asked that the testimony of former personal shopper Kathy Hoskins be re-read. Hoskins testified at trial to having witnessed Bonds receiving an injection from former trainer Greg Anderson, and a court employee read the entire testimony in open court.
On Friday, the first day of deliberations, the jury reheard a secretly taped recording Steve Hoskins, Bonds' childhood friend and former business manager, made of a conversation with Anderson in which they discussed injections of performance-enhancing drugs.
The prosecution, led by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Parrella and Jeffrey Nedrow, called 25 witnesses to the stand, including active baseball player Jason Giambi and former players Jeremy Giambi, Marvin Benard and Randy Velarde. The witness list also included Steve Hoskins, Kathy Hoskins and Bonds' former mistress Kimberly Bell, along with a parade of drug-testing employees and experts. The prosecution was not able to compel Anderson to testify, however, so he was sent back to federal prison for contempt of court at the beginning of the trial, then released when the jury went into deliberations.
Bonds was charged with three counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice based on his appearance before the BALCO grand jury, in which he denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. One of what originally were four charges of making false statements was dropped prior to closing arguments.
The defense team, led by Ruby and Cristina Arguedas, did not present a single witness, only reading part of the testimony Bell gave the Bonds grand jury to demonstrate contradictions with her testimony at trial. They vigorously cross-examined Bell and Steve Hoskins, in particular, and argued in closing that the government's pursuit of Bonds was motivated by the fact that he wasn't intimidated by investigators at the grand jury.
Bonds, 46, hit 762 home runs in his career, surpassing Hank Aaron's previous career record of 755 in 2007. A 14-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glove winner whose seven MVP awards are a record, Bonds set the single-season mark for homers with 73 in 2001. He also stands as the all-time leader in walks with 2,558 and intentional walks with 688 and remains the only player to record 500 home runs and 500 stolen bases.
The son of three-time All-Star Bobby Bonds and the godson of Hall of Famer Willie Mays, Bonds played for the Pirates for seven seasons (1986-92) before signing as a free agent with his hometown Giants prior to the 1993 season, leading the National League with 46 homers and 123 RBIs that year to claim his third NL MVP honor. Bonds later won four consecutive MVP awards, from 2001-04.
The Giants released the following statement after the verdict: "This case is ongoing and we expect it will proceed in a fair and orderly manner. Accordingly, we have no comment at this time."
John Schlegel is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.