Jurors Say Government Totally Failed to Prove Barry Bonds Lied About Steroids

**Prince** · 04-15-2011, 11:51 AM

Jurors Say Government Totally Failed to Prove Barry Bonds Lied About Steroids
By Millard Baker

The majority of the jurors in the Barry Bonds steroids-perjury trial thought that the federal government totally failed to prove that Bonds knowingly used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone (hGH). The jury was deadlocked on all of the perjury charges against Bonds and only convicted him on a single obstruction of justice charge.

Eight of the twelve jurors voted to acquit Barry Bonds on Count 1 in which prosecutors allege that Bonds lied about knowingly receiving anabolic steroids from his personal trainer Greg Anderson. Nine of twelve jurors wanted to acquit the baseball star on Count 3 after the feds failed to prove that Barry Bonds lied about receiving hGH from Anderson.

Three of the jurors told the media after the trial that the government simply did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Barry Bonds lied under oath and his unknowing use of performance-enhancing drugs. The alleged lies about steroids and hGH represented the “heart of the case” according to defense attorney Allen Ruby:

Amber:

Amber, a 19-year-old Oakland A’s fan who served on the jury, said she had no doubt that the slugger used steroids, but she said that the government didn’t have the evidence or testimony to prove that the slugger knew it.

“Obviously he did steroids in my opinion,” Amber said. “But with what they gave us we couldn’t” convict him of lying about not knowing it.

Nyiesha:

“The positive test showed us he used steroids,” said Nyiesha, a 28-year-old juror, who, like most of the jurors, declined to give her last name, referring to the results of the 2003 urine screening submitted as evidence by prosecutors Matt Parrella and Jeff Nedrow. “But they (the prosecutors) never proved he knowingly used steroids.”

Fred:

“I think he knew what he was taking,” said the jury foreman, Fred Jacob. “But the government didn’t prove that beyond a reasonable doubt. The governing force was that Bonds was innocent until proven guilty.”

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**Prince** · 04-15-2011, 12:21 PM

The Real Reason Why the Barry Bonds Witch-Hunt Was a Waste of Money
By Millard Baker

If you think the government’s prosecution of Barry Bonds was justified because no on is above the law, perjury is a serious crime, yada, yada, yada, then this article is for you. You are entirely missing the point. The pursuit of Bonds was clearly a witch-hunt. Celebrity athletes who use anabolic steroids were an acceptable target. However, the government could have just as easily targeted an “immoral” behavior other than steroid use…

What if the government targeted prominent Christians and asked them about infidelity under oath? What if they prosecuted those Christians who would inevitably lie to protect their community standing and their families? After all, they did break they law – they committed perjury. Would that have been a good use of taxpayer money?

Why is it any different than the witch-hunt targeting celebrity athletes who use steroids?

Imagine if United States vs. Barry Lamar Bonds set a far-reaching precedent for the use of perjury laws to prosecute so-called role models in our society who were guilty of other “moral crimes”?

Let’s don’t stop with the selective targeting of celebrity athletes. Why don’t we subpoena identifiable minority groups like top Hollywood actors/actresses, musical superstars, politicians, business leaders, religious leaders, etc? We’ll give them immunity and ask them questions about their moral behavior…

Have they used drugs? Have they cheated on their spouses? Have they downloaded illegal porn?

Then, let’s spend million of additional dollars trying to prove some of them lied in order to build federal cases against them and ask their former friends, colleagues and mistresses to testify against them.

We can smugly say this is justified (after all, they broke the law and perjury is a serious crime) while self-righteously enjoying their humiliation and shame as the government makes an example of their immoral behavior in a court of law.

I agree that no one is above the law and that Barry Bonds should be treated like anyone else. The problem is that Bonds was NOT treated like everyone else engaged in morally-objectionable behaviors.

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