Barry Bonds indicted
After all these years, Barry Bonds was indicted on charges he lied under oath in 2003 during the federal investigation of BALCO.
The actual indictment transcript is viewable online at the Smoking Gun and also at the San Francisco Chronicle. The most intriguing snippet is this quote:
If there is hard evidence of Barry Bonds having illegal substances in his blood samples before he took the stand and declared himself drug free, there is little room to argue he was not lying. The key wedge has always been denial of knowledge, with the linchpin of Greg Anderson always refusing to talk despite have worked intimately with Bonds for years and at the center of the BALCO investigation. Anderson was released from prison the exact same day as the Bonds indictment. We will not know if Bonds's former trainer decided to stop withholding testimony and give prosecutors evidence until Bonds's trial begins and the facts unfurl before the court. However, count two of the indictment seems to be entirely around Bonds denying Anderson gave him needles to use. I doubt science could assert that was a lie, but Anderson himself could. Count three appears to be entirely whether Bonds knew Anderson gave him human growth hormone (HGH). One could potentially prove Bonds received HGH, but not that he had knowledge of what Anderson was giving him - unless Anderson provides those details.
The actual indictment transcript is viewable online at the Smoking Gun and also at the San Francisco Chronicle. The most intriguing snippet is this quote:
During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained, including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances, for Bonds and other professional athletes.This evidence could, of course, be MLB drug testing. However, the quote does not say baseball players - it says athletes. BALCO analyzed blood samples to determine nutrients to apply to balance an athlete's biochemistry. The book Game of Shadows alleged BALCO routinely tested athletes to be sure they could evade common drug testing in professional sports and at the Olympics. ESPN's Mike Fish proclaims BALCO the source, claiming the positive test results were from 2000, years before MLB began testing players.
If there is hard evidence of Barry Bonds having illegal substances in his blood samples before he took the stand and declared himself drug free, there is little room to argue he was not lying. The key wedge has always been denial of knowledge, with the linchpin of Greg Anderson always refusing to talk despite have worked intimately with Bonds for years and at the center of the BALCO investigation. Anderson was released from prison the exact same day as the Bonds indictment. We will not know if Bonds's former trainer decided to stop withholding testimony and give prosecutors evidence until Bonds's trial begins and the facts unfurl before the court. However, count two of the indictment seems to be entirely around Bonds denying Anderson gave him needles to use. I doubt science could assert that was a lie, but Anderson himself could. Count three appears to be entirely whether Bonds knew Anderson gave him human growth hormone (HGH). One could potentially prove Bonds received HGH, but not that he had knowledge of what Anderson was giving him - unless Anderson provides those details.
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