The conviction, rendered by a jury that listened to nearly three weeks of often-graphic testimony about Bonds’s suspected steroid use, amounted to an extremely limited victory for federal prosecutors who had spent years pressing their case in an effort to establish that Bonds used steroids during his career, then lied about it under oath.Still, the jury agreed that Bonds in 2003 had impeded a grand jury investigating performance-enhancing drug use by elite athletes by giving intentionally evasive, false or misleading statements during his testimony. Jurors felt he went out of his way to avoid answering the question of whether his former personal trainer, Greg Anderson, had ever injected him.The conviction on the obstruction of justice charge, one of four counts he was facing in United States District Court, made Bonds the most prominent publicly tried culprit in what has become known as baseball’s steroid era. The verdict is certain to diminish the legacy of a player who seemed, even early in his career, to be destined for the sport’s Hall of Fame.Bonds, 46, faces a possible sentence of 10 years in federal prison, but he is not expected to receive anywhere near that length of prison time, if any. The other three charges he faced — including allegations that he lied to a grand jury when he said he never used steroids or human growth hormone — also carried 10-year maximum sentences. But the judge, Susan Illston, declared a mistrial on those counts.Jeffrey Nedrow and Matthew Parrella, the two main prosecutors, left the courtroom in silence. Melinda Haag, the United States attorney in San Francisco, who was in court to hear the verdict, said in a statement that prosecutors “were gratified” by the single guilty verdict and that they would decide whether to retry Bonds on the other counts as soon as possible.“This case is about upholding one of the most fundamental principles in our system of justice — the obligation of every witness to provide truthful and direct testimony in judicial proceedings,” she said in the statement. “In the United States, taking an oath and promising to testify truthfully is a serious matter. We cannot ignore those who choose instead to obstruct justice.”Bonds, a seven-time most valuable player in the National League, last played for the San Francisco Giants in 2007, the year he broke Hank Aaron’s career home run record. He finished with 762 in his career. But when the verdict was read, there were no cheers for him in court.
In a dark suit and purple tie, he sat at the defense table, frozen and barely even appearing to breathe. His mother, Pat Bonds, a steady presence at the trial, sat in the courtroom’s front row, also unmoved. Bonds’s lawyers, though, seemed pleased by the outcome. They immediately asked the judge to throw out the conviction, but will instead return to court for a hearing on May 20 to discuss it. They said the obstruction conviction would not stand because the jury failed to convict Bonds on any of the counts that directly alluded to Bonds’s suspected drug use.“Counts one, two and three were the heart of their case, and we have no verdict on those counts,” Allen Ruby, one of Bonds’s lawyers, said. “The case isn’t over,” he added.The jurors — eight women and four men — took nearly four days to deliberate. They heard testimony from 25 government witnesses. In the end, several jurors said that prosecutors did not provide enough evidence to prove that Bonds knew he was using steroids during his unrivaled power surge. Bonds, who developed from a gifted and fleet outfielder into the game’s greatest slugger, hit a single-season record 73 home runs in 2001.Bonds had said he thought Anderson was giving him flaxseed oil and arthritis balm, not steroids or testosterone.Bonds had been charged with one count of lying for saying he never knowingly used steroids. On that count, the jurors said they voted, 8-4, for his acquittal. On another charge that dealt with Bonds lying about his alleged use of human growth hormone, the jurors voted, 9-3, for acquittal.Mailia Wollan contributed reporting.
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