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Babo jurors will not be asked about A-Rod
By Ken Gimblin and Joe Cronin February 17, 2009 |
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SAN FRANCISCO--For those folks who will be sitting in the courtroom during jury selection in the Barry Bonds perjury trial U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston issued an order to both sets of attorneys that no questions will be permitted regarding New York Yankee infielder Alex Rodriguez during jury selection. If jurors have been reading, following, and even are fans of A-Rod any information they may hold in their hearts will not be revealed at anytime during jury selection and be will considered irrelevant because the court considers A-Rod's case totally separate from the Bonds case. Although Illston did not elaborate on reasons why it was understood in the court on Tuesday in which Barry Bonds was present that A-Rod and his admission of steroid use or anything regarding the coverage of A-Rod will not be asked by attorneys to jurors. However it might not be avoidable. A-Rod is one of baseball's biggest figures and to think that the court can turn his name off when some of baseball's biggest stars and ex-stars and the game's very own home run king is sitting present in the court room it may not be a realistic request. Not only the coverage was extensive on A-Rod but the interlocking of A-Rod admitting and Bonds denying steroid use might be something that will draw comparisons. Bonds lawyers have made it clear that they do want to ask the jury pool about A-Rod and how they feel about him and his use of steroids so they can compare what they are dealing with on impartiality if someone thinks that A-Rod is a cheater for using steroids the defense attorneys may want to excuse that potential juror on the other hand if that juror says he has no problem with A-Rod using steroids and playing baseball the defense may want to consider keeping that juror for trial. Either way Illston made clear that invoking A-Rod in the jury selection process is now out of the question and the ground rule discussions regarding what to ask jurors during the pool process is still in it's early stages. Illston is making sure that there will no tipping of the scales of justice in the selection process but that of course will be all about who you talk to. In the meantime Bonds will be back in court again as the trial gets started soon enough on March 2. Joe Cronin and Ken Gimblin are covering the Barry Bonds perjury trial for Sportstalk Radio |
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