This is going to take a while...
Mar. 21st, 2011 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreJury selection for Barry Bonds' perjury and obstruction of justice trial (aka King Canute v The Tide) is starting this morning. Among the questions being asked of potential jurors:
BALCO has been in the news off and on for over a decade in the Bay Area. Very few adults haven't participated in some form of organized sport in their lives, and while many people haven't been to a Giants game, if they're hoping to exclude Giants fans, good luck with that. after last fall, it's hard to find anyone on San Francisco who doesn't have at least a good feeling towards the team.
The fact is this prosecution is doomed. They have no direct evidence that Bonds knowingly used steroids. Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson will happily go back to prison before testifying. He pled guilty to various charges years ago, and part of the plea agreement was that he would not be asked to testify in any further trials. The moment he was out of prison the feds started demanding he testify against Bonds. Anderson refused, citing his deal. He;s already spent a year in jail over this, and has made it clear that he is going to stick to the letter of his plea agreement. So nothing having to do with Anderson and his relationship with Bonds can be admitted into evidence.
Recent rulings have shown just how desperate the federal prosecutor has become. They've tried to get voice mails left on his mistresses' phone where Bonds is angry admitted as proof of "roid rage." The want to use hearsay evidence of third parties who heard someone else say they saw Bonds shooting up. My favorite? They want to introduce evidence that Bonds suffers from male pattern baldness as evidence of steroid use. Look at pictures of his father, Bobby Bonds. Bobby suffered from male pattern baldness as well! It runs in families!
But let's assume for the moment that Bonds did receive steroids. Hell, for about fifteen years Major League Baseball was swimming in performance enhancing drugs. That's not the point. What Bonds is accused of lying about is his statement that he never knowingly used steroids. His story all along is that he just accepted whatever his trainers told him. Bonds has suffered from arthritic knees for years. According to Bonds, he was told that what he was being given was supposed to increase his flexibility and help with the pain. He's stuck to that story.
So the prosecutors don't need to prove that Bonds took steroids, but that he knew he was doing it. The lawyers on my f-list can correct me, but this seems to be an nearly impossible standard absent direct evidence linking Bonds directly to the source. Unless they had a Christmas card from Bonds to BALCO saying "thanks for all the steroids!" how do you prove what a man knew?
Over the last 15+ years I have been injected, infused, handed innumerable pills and potions, and given too many odd procedures to count. You learn a lot of casual medicine when you're as broken as me, but I still need to take it on faith that what I'm told about the contents of the syringe or that pill bottle is what they say it is. For all I know that bottle of 2mg Warfarin tablets in front of me is actually sugar pills and I'm part of a double-blind study on blood thinners. (I'm not, since I would have had to agree to take part and sign a pile of papers, but you see my point.) Bonds can honestly say he believed what he was told. He never knowingly took steroids.
Finally, people are aghast at the length and cost of this investigation. Seven years and over 50 million dollars have been spent trying to get one guy who might have taken steroids before baseball banned them. Add in that this seems to be the federal lawyers who can't shoot straight (a previous indictment was thrown out for procedural errors that a paralegal should have caught.. things like multiple charges listed as a single count.) and you could very well see jury nullification become a factor. Barry Bonds is still a name linked with greatness in San Francisco, the feds are seen as money wasting jerks, and the case is weak. I can see it being dismissed after the prosecution rests.
Did Bonds use steroids? Seems pretty clear that something was going on? Did he know about it? Who knows? He's such an arrogant jerk I can almost believe that he'd not bother to question his trusted trainers. Can the feds prove their case? Seems doubtful to me.
But the best part of a Bonds acquittal would be watching the haters' heads explode.
I'd love to hear the opinions of the lawyers I have on my friends list on this.
- Have you ever participated in organized sports?
- Have you ever heard of BALCO?
- Have you attended a Giants game in the last five years?
BALCO has been in the news off and on for over a decade in the Bay Area. Very few adults haven't participated in some form of organized sport in their lives, and while many people haven't been to a Giants game, if they're hoping to exclude Giants fans, good luck with that. after last fall, it's hard to find anyone on San Francisco who doesn't have at least a good feeling towards the team.
The fact is this prosecution is doomed. They have no direct evidence that Bonds knowingly used steroids. Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson will happily go back to prison before testifying. He pled guilty to various charges years ago, and part of the plea agreement was that he would not be asked to testify in any further trials. The moment he was out of prison the feds started demanding he testify against Bonds. Anderson refused, citing his deal. He;s already spent a year in jail over this, and has made it clear that he is going to stick to the letter of his plea agreement. So nothing having to do with Anderson and his relationship with Bonds can be admitted into evidence.
Recent rulings have shown just how desperate the federal prosecutor has become. They've tried to get voice mails left on his mistresses' phone where Bonds is angry admitted as proof of "roid rage." The want to use hearsay evidence of third parties who heard someone else say they saw Bonds shooting up. My favorite? They want to introduce evidence that Bonds suffers from male pattern baldness as evidence of steroid use. Look at pictures of his father, Bobby Bonds. Bobby suffered from male pattern baldness as well! It runs in families!
But let's assume for the moment that Bonds did receive steroids. Hell, for about fifteen years Major League Baseball was swimming in performance enhancing drugs. That's not the point. What Bonds is accused of lying about is his statement that he never knowingly used steroids. His story all along is that he just accepted whatever his trainers told him. Bonds has suffered from arthritic knees for years. According to Bonds, he was told that what he was being given was supposed to increase his flexibility and help with the pain. He's stuck to that story.
So the prosecutors don't need to prove that Bonds took steroids, but that he knew he was doing it. The lawyers on my f-list can correct me, but this seems to be an nearly impossible standard absent direct evidence linking Bonds directly to the source. Unless they had a Christmas card from Bonds to BALCO saying "thanks for all the steroids!" how do you prove what a man knew?
Over the last 15+ years I have been injected, infused, handed innumerable pills and potions, and given too many odd procedures to count. You learn a lot of casual medicine when you're as broken as me, but I still need to take it on faith that what I'm told about the contents of the syringe or that pill bottle is what they say it is. For all I know that bottle of 2mg Warfarin tablets in front of me is actually sugar pills and I'm part of a double-blind study on blood thinners. (I'm not, since I would have had to agree to take part and sign a pile of papers, but you see my point.) Bonds can honestly say he believed what he was told. He never knowingly took steroids.
Finally, people are aghast at the length and cost of this investigation. Seven years and over 50 million dollars have been spent trying to get one guy who might have taken steroids before baseball banned them. Add in that this seems to be the federal lawyers who can't shoot straight (a previous indictment was thrown out for procedural errors that a paralegal should have caught.. things like multiple charges listed as a single count.) and you could very well see jury nullification become a factor. Barry Bonds is still a name linked with greatness in San Francisco, the feds are seen as money wasting jerks, and the case is weak. I can see it being dismissed after the prosecution rests.
Did Bonds use steroids? Seems pretty clear that something was going on? Did he know about it? Who knows? He's such an arrogant jerk I can almost believe that he'd not bother to question his trusted trainers. Can the feds prove their case? Seems doubtful to me.
But the best part of a Bonds acquittal would be watching the haters' heads explode.
I'd love to hear the opinions of the lawyers I have on my friends list on this.
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no subject
Date: 21 Mar 2011 17:23 (UTC)BALCO is a meaningless word to me.
I've never attended a baseball game in my life. "Giants" as a team reference always brings "New York" and football to mind, and I don't really follow THEM either.
Looks like I'm a perfect jury choice.
Aside from that little geographic bit about being here on the EAST coast.
no subject
Date: 21 Mar 2011 21:29 (UTC)>going on? Did he know about it? Who knows? He's such an arrogant
>jerk I can almost believe that he'd not bother to question his
>trusted trainers. Can the feds prove their case? Seems doubtful
>to me.
This! This point exactly and shouted to the skies above. IMO he was either too arrogant to ask OR didn't think the matter was important since he was trusting his experts to be ... well ... expert in his care. This let him concentrate on matters more germaine to his hitting balls into McCovey cove.
>But the best part of a Bonds acquittal would be watching the
>haters' heads explode.
This is a result devoutly to be wished. ^_^