Bonds Pleads Not Guilty - If the Needle don’t fit, You Must Acquit
On November 15, Barry Bonds was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.
San Francisco, CAÂ - Major League Baseball’s all-time home run king, Barry Bonds, appeared in U.S. District Court in San Francisco Friday and pleaded not guilty to perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from his alleged performance-enhancing drug use.
Bail was set at $500,000 for Bonds, who made his first public appearance since his indictment in mid-November.
After Bonds’ legal team entered his plea to Judge Maria-Elena James, United States District Judge Susan Illston ordered a return date to court on February 7 for a status hearing.
“Barry Bonds is innocent. He has trust and faith in the justice system. He will defend these charges and we are confident of a good outcome,” said Bonds’ lead attorney Allen Ruby in a brief statement following the court appearance.
“As we told the judge in court, there may be defects on the face of the indictment, meaning if you just read it you can see the defects and if we conclude that’s the case, there will be a motion to dismiss the indictment and there will be a briefing schedule and a hearing date and so forth, but we’re not quite there yet.”
On November 15, Bonds was indicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.
Documents filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California indicated that Bonds was hit with a five-count indictment — four counts of perjury and one for obstruction of justice — after one of the longest federal grand jury investigations in Northern California history involving the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO).
The charges against Bonds stem from his December 4, 2003 grand jury testimony when he testified that he did not knowingly take performance enhancing drugs supplied by BALCO and his personal trainer Greg Anderson.
The indictment said that during the investigation evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances for Bonds and other professional athletes.
Bonds, a seven-time MVP, eight-time Gold Glove winner, 14-time All-Star and two-time batting champion owns seven single-season major league records, most notably a 73-homer season in 2001 with the Giants.
Bonds’ last years in San Francisco were littered with controversy. In December 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle first reported Bonds used a clear substance and a cream given to him by Anderson during the 2003 baseball season.
Under intense scrutiny in 2007, Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s home run record with his 756th home run on August 7.
Bonds, who is a free agent, currently stands at 762 home runs, with a career average of .298 in 22 seasons with Pittsburgh and San Francisco. The 43- year-old has 2,935 hits, 2,227 runs scored (third all-time), 601 doubles, 514 stolen bases and 1,996 RBI (tied for second all-time). He is the lone member of baseball’s 500 homer - 500 steal club and also holds the major league record for walks (2,558).
Despite his constant controversy, a report in Friday’s San Francisco Chronicle citing a major-league executive said that the Oakland Athletics are interested in signing Bonds.
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